Deaf Center - The Day I Would Never Have

Revisiting my "loved" tracks on last.fm, I came across this. The very first thing I thought about was how much I really want to do another float experience but with this song. There is nothing like feeling music with your entire body through the water.

Deaf Center is an contemporary classical/ambient collaboration between two Norwegian musicians, Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland.


[Last.fm] [Facebook] [Spotify] [Website] [Label]
(Albums purchasable on Boomkat.)

To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - The Needle

[Last.fm] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Label]
(Album, The Patron, can be purchased on the label's website.)

The Atlas Ladder - High Lonesome

Philip Jamieson. We initially met through his other band, which I was (and still very much am) a huge fan of. In 2011 shortly after coming back from a big European trip I visited his hometown in Massachusetts for the first time. Since then we've been really close. He is one of very few people I've felt a deep spiritual connection with. Such an amazing, sincere, deep, cognitive, emotional individual that I'm honoured to call one of my friends. This man is like a brother to me. So, I thought it'd be fitting to have his solo project, The Atlas Ladder, be my 5000th artist on last.fm.

[Last.fm] [Soundcloud] [Facebook]
(Songs can be downloaded for free from Soundcloud.)

6LA8 / MMI / Asfandyar Khan - Breathless

I always feel bad concerning 6LA8. They constantly pump out great, new stuff but I try to keep from repeating artists so much on my blog. However, there are moments that I just have to share. 6LA8 AND Asfandyar Khan... oh this is glorious. This is also the first I've heard MMI. And I have to say, I really like his stuff.

This song is on a collaboration album between 6LA8 and MMI, Reveries, which can be downloaded on Bandcamp (name your price).


Asfandyar Khan
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Soundcloud] [Facebook] [Myspace]

6LA8
[Last.fm] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [YouTube]

MMI
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Soundcloud] [Twitter] [Blog]

Glitter Bones - Spell Legend

I started watching Portlandia. One thing that I really fell in love with, among many things about that show, was the intro. I had to know what that song was. So, after a search I came across Washed Out. "What kind of music is this?" Last.fm reveals, "chillwave." "Oooh, I need to feature a chillwave artist for my next blog post." I typically feature artists that have under 10k listeners (with a few exceptions) so I picked a fairly obscure artist on the chillwave list, Moss of Aura, and tuned into his artist radio. A couple hours pass and I'm finding myself falling in love with this genre. It's like a mix between indie, pop, 80s style synth, and ambient. Then Spell Legend came on. "This is it!" I was loving everything I was hearing, but there are always songs that just stand out.

From Chicago... nice. Since I'll be moving to NYC, I'll be visiting Chicago fairly often (cheap flights to and fro). I'll definitely be seeing these guys.

I don't normally create free upload links. However, after talking to them, they didn't mind people downloading their stuff. However, their stuff isn't exactly that easy to google. It didn't take too long, but it did take some time to find it. I found this particular site from RibsOut. (Check out his blog!!) They also have a very limited amount of cassettes and vinyls to purchase.
Buy Amulet Calls cassettes (shipped from Brooklyn, NY)
Buy Returning The Magic vinyls (shipped from Paris, France)
Download both EPs (file sharing)
Listen/Download newer material (Bandcamp)


On another note, I really hate adding more genres to the already long list. A lot of these genres only feature one band. So soon I will be condensing my genre list into various styles and feel of music. No more genre specifics, except for ones that I feature a lot (like post-rock). I want to allow for people to click on a tag and find various sounds that may have some similarities but will ultimately open them to different kinds of music and musicians. It won't be entirely accurate, but this blog is more about music exploration than music accuracy.


[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace]




_______________________________________________________________________________ I will constantly be updating each new post with an anti-SOPA/PIPA post-script (until this gets adequately dealt with) and deleting the post-script of the previous post.

I don't usually follow Maddox' rants but he seems to have the most logical rant about SOPA. I highly suggest reading it. Not only that, he seems to be the only one that is actively attempting to organize a boycott against pro-SOPA companies.

http://maddox.xmission.com/

Someone said this, and it couldn't be more true... ‎"a painless boycott for the participants is painless for the target as well." Don't think that boycotting companies that already don't affect you is going to mean anything. I'm personally voting a boycott to three that affect me the most on that list. And if picked it will suck because I do enjoy the products of those companies, but sometimes creating an impact requires one to give something up.

Ramblings: Taking the music experience to another level

It has been my ongoing personal goal to experience music in different ways and I have been fortunate to have many amazing experiences with live music, recorded music, and with the musicians. When I discovered sensory deprivation I instantly thought of ways I can integrate music into it.


Isolation Tank
My means of ultimate sensory deprivation was float tanks (aka sensory deprivation tank, isolation tank). I first discovered floating from the television show, Fringe. Curious to see if those actually existed, I did a search and came across a few of Joe Rogan's videos explaining these. Float tanks are large enclosed tanks filled with epsom salt water (to allow for better buoyancy). As you're floating your sense of sight is completely deprived while all other senses such as touch, hearing, and your sense of gravity is highly dampened.


My first float
As my flight date departing from Los Angeles was creeping nearer, I decided to just do it... experience music in isolation. The first facility here in LA that popped up on my search was Soothing Solutions (site is currently down, try here in the mean time). For first time customers they charge you for a one hour session and give you the second one for free. So I decided to so a first float in silence then the second with music. And I didn't know until I arrived there, apparently this is the place Joe Rogan was introduced to floating.

Well, my first experience with floating was a couple days ago and it was nice. But it wasn't quite as psychedelic as I have heard others describe their experiences. The first float, they said, is usually an introductory float so you can figure out what is a comfortable position (it's surprising how even a slight movement of the arm or leg allows you to reach that comfort level) and learn how to stabilize yourself in the centre of the tank and prevent yourself from drifting into the walls. While I found that comfortable spot and quickly learned how to prevent myself from drifting into the walls quite as frequently, I could not ease my mind. The silence only put my mind on overdrive. At moments I would exhaust myself. However, overall, it was extremely relaxing. I like to describe it as conscious unconsciousness. I was incredibly rested even though I was completely conscious even with my eyes open the entire time. In complete silence time ticks by slowly. An hour feels like three.


Experiencing music under sensory deprivation

My first experience made me really refine my playlist for my second float. I had already predetermined that my second float will include music. But the original plan was thirty minutes of silence and thirty minutes of music. Well, at this point I haven't quite trained myself to ease my mind, so I formed a playlist to turn the entire one hour float into a music experience.

Act 1 - The Mind (Ambient music)

*5 minutes of silence*
The American Dollar - Rudiments Of A Spiritual Life (Ambient)
Basheer & The Pied Pipers - paperdolls
Tomáš Dvořák - The Glasshouse With Butterfly

Act 2 - The Heart (Post-Rock, Classical)

*5 minutes of silence*
Years Of Rice And Salt - Nothing Of Cities
Arvo Pärt - Silouans Song (Tallin Chamber Orchestra)

Act 3 - Passion (Post-Rock)

*5 minutes of silence*
Caspian - Moksha
Colour For A Rebel - High

The plan was to have three experiences starting with a sort of ethereal experience with the Ambient music, then emit strong emotions with a post-rock song that seems to spark some intense emotion within myself and a classical piece that destroyed me a few months ago, then finish the experience with an intense song from a band that sparked my passion in music and another personal favourite song from one of my favourite one-man projects.

I gave myself five minutes to get situated and comfortable before my float started. I was in such great anticipation that this five minutes just felt like it was dragging on... until a high pitched tone struck my ears and gradually became louder until I felt the ambient sounds encompass my body.


Act 1

Rudiments Of A Spiritual Life

I expected to become overwhelmed with the music, but not once did I even think about the audio vibration transfer into the water. The sound waves were literally encompassing my body. I wasn't just listening to the music, I was feeling the music all over. A big grin came across my face as I thought, "this next hour is going to be freakin' awesome."

paperdolls
The American Dollar starts fading and I feel myself somewhat disappointed. I want the song to go on for longer. Even though the moment of silence was only a couple seconds, it felt much longer as I anticipated paperdolls. Then it quickly fades in. I was waning out of the initial excitement and ready to let my mind go to the music. I could feel my body relaxing and my mind releasing through the soothing and unusual sounds of paperdolls. And as quickly as it faded in, it faded out. Again, I feel disappointed that my Basheer & The Pied Pipers experience was so short.

The Glasshouse With Butterfly

It had been a little while since I listened to this particular track. From memory I knew it was beautiful, but my heart had forgotten the feeling of this song. When the track started I thought, "oh yeah..." as I instantly felt that surge of emotion. And as the track continued to progress, the piano comes in. My heart starts to wrench. And then 2:09... the emotional build up is so intense tears can't even build up. My body begins to feel like it's transcending. I feel like I'm no longer laying down in a pool of water but standing, witnessing these shapes form in the darkness with strobes of light flashing in the corners of my vision. The song, so emotional, so intense filling my body. And then it ends. And I'm back in the pool, hearing my heart beat for the next five minutes.


Act 2

Nothing Of Cities
My mind starts to go on overdrive again, thinking about how amazing that experience was and excited about the next two songs. Years Of Rice And Salt starts with some gentle guitar. As I'm listening I'm surprised at the lack of emotion building up. It then hit me, albeit, while depriving my senses has so far created an extremely surreal experience, the way I express emotions from this song, the rocking movements I make, has a lot to do with how the emotions continue to build up. It was actually fairly difficult forcing myself to lay still and thus I didn't quite have the normal build-up of emotion as I usually do throughout the entire song. But it wasn't until the moment when the floor toms kicked in (8:05) and I felt every single hit throughout my body when emotions rushed in. It was like a dam breaking. Chills filled my entire body. And then it happened again, except I wasn't standing... I wasn't anywhere. I didn't feel the water, I didn't physically feel anything except for a single tear running down the side of my face. This song had completely captured me and took me in. I was in a moment where all I knew was the music that was entering my ears. Then as the song neared the end I was brought back. "Wow..."

Silouans Song

"If Nothing Of Cities was that intense, this song may end up completely destroying me." As soon as the song starts I made a dreadful realization... it's too quiet... way, way too quiet. I could vaguely hear the music. If it weren't for the fact that I've heard this song quite a few times, I probably wouldn't have been able to make out what it sounded like. However, strangely enough, even though I could barely even hear it my vision was spazzing out pretty hard on me. The strobe flashes became very intense. When the song reached its climax emotions erupted. However, they weren't nearly as intense as they had been before. Not being able to hear the buildup to that climax really hurt the overall experience of that song. I hate to say this, but it was a major disappointment. In retrospect, I should have jacked up the levels of the track so the quieter portions could be audible under water. I was hoping to experience a complete and uncontrollable eruption of emotions, but that didn't quite happen. And to be honest, even if it was loud enough for me to fully experience the song, I'm not entirely sure sensory deprivation would have intensified the emotions. Much like my experience with Nothing Of Cities, but a whole lot more intense, this song causes me to curl and tense my body, my hands tightly grip on themselves (or whatever is within range), my head bows down with my chin pressed on my chest... all of these actions add to the intensity of this song, and without that I don't think it'd erupt such emotions even in a float tank. But anyway...


Final Act

Moksha

The five minutes of silence went by unbelieveably quick. Normally under sensory deprivation silence feels like time is progressing slowly. When Moksha started playing my excitement had burst. This is a band that means a lot to me, so experiencing this was a very intimate moment. And then something happened that made the experience less than exceptional. "Something is missing..." I lift my head up, allowing my ears to rise above the water surface then lower it again. "I can't hear Phil's guitars at all under water!!" As disappointed as I was with my lack of forethought when I added Silouans Song, I was way more bummed out about this. I quickly learned that there is a certain pitch that simply doesn't penetrate through water, and that pitch just happened to be exactly the pitch that infinitely intensifies this song. This was difficult, this band is so influential to me and I wanted to experience them in this kind of setting... and yet I couldn't truly experience them. However, even with that slight disappointment, I seemed to get more consistent transcending feelings than the prior songs. At one point I felt myself somewhat floating and looking back at the song. (Don't ask... I really don't know how to describe looking back at sound.)

High

I was worried at first that my experience with this song would end up as somewhat of a letdown as well, ending my amazing experience with three slight disappointments in a row. But not only did it seem to translate well through the water, it was literally like getting smacked into a wall of music. And knowing the story behind this song (it's a love song, not a song about getting stoned) the emotional rush was intense. At one moment it felt like I was being ripped out of the tank, being pulled from my chest, whenever the song instantly turned intense and brought back in when the song mellows again. I couldn't think of a better way to end this float experience.


Final Thoughts
This was probably one of the most unique and amazing music experiences. To not only listen to music but to feel it rush through every part of your body is such an intense experience. I wouldn't say that it is a more intense experience than listening to it without sensory deprivation. I quickly learned that movement of your body can also stir emotions and amplify intensity, since in the tank you don't quite move much (if at all). Nothing Of Cities is a prime example of this. Without sensory deprivation this entire song grips my heart. But with sensory deprivation I seem disconnected with the first half but the emotions the second half causes is extremely overwhelming.

Next time I will have to do some more tests and research while setting up my playlist, even go as far as placing speakers against a filled tub, dunking my head in the water, and seeing if I can hear each instrument. This experience only makes me want to do another float session and try another Caspian song, most likely Quovis/Further Up/Further In.


All of the songs I have linked on this post are a part of a playlist I uploaded to Soundcloud for the purpose of this post. If you wish to get a hold of these songs please visit the artists' pages. Most of them will be purchasable (or freely downloadable) on their bandcamp pages.

The American Dollar
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Big Cartel]

Basheer & The Pied Pipers
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [YouTube]

Tomáš Dvořák
[Last.fm] [Machinarium] [Amanita Design]
(Dvořák is a soundtrack artist for Amanita Design. His work comes with the purchase of their games, which are as artistically beautiful as Dvořák music is.)

Years Of Rice And Salt
[Last.fm] [Service Bell EP (Bandcamp)] [Nothing Of Cities (Bandcamp)] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website]

Arvo Pärt
Search Tallin Chamber Orchestra or Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir on iTunes. They have done various Pärt pieces. Silouans Song is on the Te Deum album.

Caspian
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Blog] [Website]

Colour For A Rebel
[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace]


For those that live in Los Angeles,
Soothing Solutions
207 W. Alameda Ave.
Burbank, CA 91502
[Website]

The Eternal Twilight - Stars Of Our Beloved

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Oxide Tones] [Website]
(Album can be purchased on Oxide Tones.)

4 Days Of Night - Towards Nothing

For those that know me and/or visit my blog frequently, you may know that I'm fairly intrigued with the Pakistani music scene. So, whenever I'm introduced to new artists I get excited. Tipu (6LA8) sends me a lot of interesting stuff. Actually, Tipu and Talha Wynne are probably two of my major connections to the Pakistani scene.

Anyway, this is a brand new artist, and this is his first song as 4 Days Of Night and is absolutely beautiful.
Currently, there is no Bandcamp or Soundcloud (or even last.fm listing) as of yet, at least that I know of. He does have a Facebook page. Follow him!

[Facebook]

Álfheimr - Predatory Nature

I have a tendency to feature a lot of artists from other parts of the world but not many American artists. I'm not sure why. Anyway, this is a band from Oregon that my friend had asked me to feature a couple weeks ago. I checked them out and wow! I'm going to have to be more aware of my own music scene here, hah hah. Álfheimr, Glorie... there are some amazing American stuff!

Álfheimr's new album, Predatory Nature, became available last week. Check it out on their bandcamp page.
They will also be setting up a KickStarter page for their upcoming album for tangible audio medium releases (they're currently debating on CD or Vinyl). Follow their Facebook page for more updates.

Thanks John for showing me this artist!

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace]
(Albums are available for free or whatever you decide to donate on Bandcamp.)

Possimiste - The Flight Of Lulu

I am really exctied about this one. This artist is just 18 years old, and wow... what a sound. It was difficult to choose what I wanted to feature today. She has no specific music style. This particular song is very ambient, very The American Dollar-like, while others are indie, and one I wouldn't be able to define in a genre (she put it as post modernism on soundcloud, I'm not going to pretend to know what that is, hah hah, it's just good). It always amazes me when someone so young can produce such amazing sounds. This brings me back to my discovery of These Portraits Never Spoke (20 now, but 19 when he wrote his last songs).

Hah hah, you kids are making me feel old!


[Last.fm] [Soundcloud] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Twitter] [Blog] [Facebook]
(Her music are all available for free on last.fm)

Poor Colour Palate - Pause Breathe Scream

I was listening to the Carlos Cipa similar artist radio on last.fm a week ago. (That has to be my new favourite station.) Every artist that came up was amazing. But then there was one that stood out even among the phenomenal artists, one that made me feel compelled to have a temporary break from what I was working on to really listen to the song. This was Poor Colour Palate. Later that day another amazing song comes up. Again, Poor Colour Palate! I finally got around to listening to his discography and as beautiful as some of his songs are, I'm most blown away by his more ambient pieces. Next to post-rock, ambient is among my favourite of music styles. But often times I think of electronics and ambient tones for ambient music. To hear just piano played in this style of music and played so, so well just blows my mind. This has opened my mind to a different aspect of ambience, which I must delve into!!

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Blogger]
(Albums are available for free on Bandcamp.)

Dead Sea Choir - Oriental Drippo

Yesterday was Dustbowl Music & Arts Festival. The beginning of the day was a bit rough. Temperatures were at 104°F (40°C). I packed my bag filled with water bottles in preparation. But it was just too hot to really enjoy the music. The evening cooled down to an enjoyable 80-something, though.

As usual, festivals often start with lesser bands. There were a few gems, primarily the solo, acoustic artists. However, I haven't come across too many solo acoustic artists I didn't like.

I like Gentle Ghost a lot, though, the vocals were a bit off during the heavy vocal songs, but the light vocal songs they seemed to be spot-on. The music, however, was really, really good.

It was good to see Beau Jennings again. I hadn't seen him play since Norman Music Festival 3 (2010).

I really wanted to see The Burning Hotels again, but I decided to pick my friend up from Edmond (45 minutes away). (Now, a little back story behind this man, he is visiting from Pakistan. I featured his band on my blog, Basheer & The Pied Pipers, a while ago. No more than a week after the posting I get a message from him informing me he will be visiting Oklahoma City for his medical internship. And this is how we met...) I pick him up and take him to Dustbowl. I had only missed one artist, The Burning Hotels, and was in the middle of Sherree Chamberlain's set. I enjoyed her a lot.

And then Dead Sea Choir comes up. I already came into this with disappointment. I wanted to see a choir, what I saw on stage was not a choir. But then they started playing. The first song was good. It didn't grab me, though, but it was good. (Then again, I may have still been in disappointment of the lack of choir.) Then the next song started to grab me. Each progressing song amazed me more and more. I was starting to get chills down my spine and goosebumps. "WOW, Dude, this band is amazing!!!" I said to my friend. I started texting several friends to check this band out, and one friend of whom was at the festival, "Dude, I hope you're still here and saw Dead Sea Choir, that was awesome." He was, and he saw.

The following bands were The Pretty Black Chains (not really my style, I couldn't really get much into them) and Colourmusic (which was pretty intense). But for me, Dead Sea Choir was the highlight of the day.

[Last.fm] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website]
(Album available for free download on their website.)

Asura - Atlantis Child

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website]
(Albums are available for purchase on iTunes.)

A Dancing Beggar - Daytrip to Glynde

I read a review someone made on The Dancing Beggar and the word "tranquil" was used. I think that word alone sums up this man's music.

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [Myspace]
(Albums are available for purchase on BandCamp and iTunes. Our Distant Memories EP is available for free on Bandcamp)

6LA8 - Feeling Like A Paper Yellowed With Age

[Last.fm] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [YouTube]
(Albums are avaible for free download on their last.fm and SoundCloud page. Their SoundCloud and Facebook pages have a mediafire link for their entire discography.)

Battlestations - "Segment 2 - The Taste Of The Kill"

I received a message from one of Battlestations last month. I wasn't aware up until now, due to Facebook putting some emails in a directory I never look at. Anyway, after taking a gander, I like these guys a lot. He said they were a post-rock outfit, but I personally feel their music is a lot more ambient than it is post-rock.
To me, their music has a lot of layers. It goes from very fantasy world-like, to dream-like, to something darker and industrial (I don't mean the industrial genre). It's good to listen to in the dark.

[Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website]
(Album available for purchase on CD Baby, Bandcamp, iTunes, and Amazon [in order with least expensive first]. Check their website for CD Baby and Amazon links.)

Solar Fields - The Road To Nothingness

[Last.fm] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website]
(Albums are avialable for purchase on iTunes.)

Hidden Orchestra - Strange

While listening to Jaga Jazzist last.fm radio I came across this. It is somewhat of a rarity to come across something where I, very audibly, go "WOW" and frantically start searching for a way to purchase. There have been enough impulse buys like this that I can count on one hand. This one, however, has to be one of my favourite impulse buy.

If I had to describe these guys I would have to say they're like The American Dollar, Tomáš Dvořák, and Contemporary Noise Quintet put together.

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [Facebook] [Myspace] [Website] [Label]
(Albums available for purchase on iTunes and their Label's page. The song, Footsteps, is available for free download on Bandcamp.)

Pie Are Squared - They Wobble In Anger

Hailing from Egypt, these guys provide a mix of ambience, from devastatingly intense to meditative and chill, and some nice post-rock elements with tons of experimentalism.

I discovered these guys on the New Post Rock facebook page. New Post Rock is definitely one of my favourite facebook pages. I don't know who runs it, but whoever it is major kudos for supporting the small artists. It is easily one of the best places for discovering little-known Post-Rock bands.

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [Myspace]
(Albums are available for free download on their Bandcamp page.)

Basheer & The Pied Pipers - Orcinus (Returns Home)

Some more from Pakistan.

[Last.fm] [Bandcamp] [SoundCloud] [Facebook] [YouTube]
(EP available for free download on BandCamp.)