Ambient Visions
Supports independent Musicians
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New Age Music
Made Simple
by Stephen Hill
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A
Journey into Sound and Spirit |
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Rich Brodsky
Portal |
Portal AV talks to Rich Brodsky aka Atomic Skunk San Francisco Bay Area based electronic musician, Rich Brodsky aka Atomic Skunk, weaves together ambient field recordings, lush pads, and organic acoustic instruments with high-tech arpeggiated synths, glitchy, chaotic rhythms, and haunting melodies to create a unique psychedelic ambient soundscape. In 2008, Rich began composing and recording his own ambient electronic music, using an amazing piece of software called Ableton Live. Live's non-linear approach to music composition opened up a world of creative possibilities that led to the first Atomic Skunk creations. In early 2009, Rich released his first eight compositions as Atomic Skunk for his debut album, Binary Scenes. In early 2010, Rich released the follow-up to Binary Scenes, a flowing, cinematic, gapless album entitled Portal. Portal features seven fresh, original tracks as well as a uniquely beautiful cover version of The Grateful Dead classic, "China Doll." A limited edition Digipak CD of Portal, featuring all original artwork by Polish artist Michal Karcz is available now for pre-order at Bandcamp. Other Artist Interviews on Ambient Visions |
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Voices of the Ancients
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AV's LaLa.com Play of the Week If you are familiar with LaLa.com you know that you can listen to any track one time completely through for free so it is the perfect opportunity to find out if you like a particular CD before buying it. AV will be posting CD's in this column that you might like and after a quick sign up with LaLa.com you can listen to the whole CD. Enjoy!
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New Reviews on Ambient Visions
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Scott August
Lost Canyons |
Lost Canyons AV talks with Scott August Native American Music Award winner, and three time nominee, Scott August is a nationally acclaimed composer, producer, keyboardist and Native American flute player know for his forays into World Music. His music has been featured on the nationally syndicated radio shows “Hearts of Space” and “Echoes” as well as receiving airplay on the the digital networks XM, Sirius and DirecTV. One of the nation’s most influential Native American flute players, August was a headline performer at the 2006 and 2007 Zion Canyon Flute Festival and the 2007 Central Coast Flute Festival. He is known for both his award winning music and knowledge of the Native American flute. In July 2005 he opened for Dr. Wayne Dyer at the International New Age Trade Show and he was a musical guest at the 2005 TED conference. Echoes radio says "August has always been a cut or two above most native flute players... He layers guitars, keyboards and all kinds of percussion into his compositions, moving from world fusion to airy ambiences." August has also composed music and sound design for hundreds of films, commercials and video projects, for clients such as NASA, The Discovery Channel, Lexus, Chevrolet, HBO, Nabisco, and Minolta. The Los Angeles Times has called his music "shimmering and luminous." Other AV's CD Focus Features available on Ambient Visions |
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Visit Moonbooter's website
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AV's Ambient Video Spotlight Moonbooter - Inside Nukes
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Portal
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AV's Spotlight Review Portal by Atomic Skunk AV Spotlight CD Review Atomic Skunk is the alter ego of Rich Brodsky and definitely not odorous as the name might at first imply. Portal is the second release from Rich under this name with the first being Binary Scenes. Not having been exposed to Rich's music previously I was somewhat apprehensive when I first received music from someone known as Atomic Skunk to be reviewed on Ambient Visions but after listening to Rich's latest release for only a few minutes it was apparent that his music did indeed belong on Ambient Visions and definitely had a place in the collections of AV's readers. Rich mentioned in the interview that is currently running on Ambient Visions that he wanted the name to stand out and be something that folks wouldn't forget and you know what...it worked! |
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Chuck van Zyl
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Star's End 30th Anniversary AV talks with Chuck van Zyl STAR'S END is (with the exception of "Music from the
Hearts of Space") the longest running radio program of ambient music in
the world. Since 1976, STAR'S END has been providing the "STAR'S END is a unique listening experience, not just
an exchange of information like most radio shows", says van Zyl. "Due
to the unique presentation and the subtlety of the music, the program really
affects people, often in a profound way". Other AV's Q&A Features available on Ambient Visions |
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Vir Unis
Stand Still Like the Hummingbird |
Artist Spotlight on Vir Unis I began music in the early to mid 80's as a drummer and occasional keyboardist for a couple bands heavily under the influence of the new wave/new romantic music that was mainly coming out of England those days; most notably bands like Japan, (early) Duran Duran, Adam & The Ants, Gary Numan, The Human League, Modern English, Talk Talk, and Tears for Fears. Going into the late 80's and early 90's (and quite disullusioned with the big hair/eyeliner bands) I began searching for a yet even more atmospheric sound beyond what 4AD and other more ethereal labels were producing at the time. Heavily influenced by the studio isolationist and cerebral works of Brian Eno and the more sensual quality of David Sylvian's instrumental albums, I started on a quest to make my own music for inner reflective spaces and something entirely new. After spending nearly 7 years in the studio with a very small analog recording setup and minimalist sound devices, I delved into the world of digital/computer audio in the spring of 1996. My studio expanded with more synthesizers and drum machines added. I began to forge a stronger sound and began a deeper work into sound organization and manipulation, but always striving to keep it entertaining, visceral, and not fall into the alluring trap of experimenting for its own sake, which I always found way too repetitive. From there I had a quite fortutious meeting a fellow artist and pioneer of Ambient/Tribal music, Steve Roach. At this time I was also working with Ma Ja Le a duo from Wisconsin. We recorded an album called "Imaginarium", which was produced by Steve Roach and released on Mirage, a division of Oasis Music in Canada. Spending nearly 8 weeks as the number one album on The New Age Voice playlist, "Imaginarium" introduced myself and Ma Ja Le to the broader ambient music community around the globe and brought many more opportunities to meet and work with some very talented musicians. The next several years were spent working on a more rhythmically driven sound, going back to the source as a drummer, and fusing elements of all the past and present influences in an electronic and ambient atmosphere. The subsequent beat driven tribal/electronic albums were "Body Electric" (with Steve Roach, released on Projekt), "Light Fantastic" (with Steve Roach, released on Fathom/Hearts of Space), "Blood Machine" (with Steve Roach, released on GreenHouse Music), "Pulse n Atmo" (released on Groove Unlimited), "Thermal Transfer" (with Saul Stokes, released on Binary/Hypnos), "Live at Gathering 23" (released on Space for Music). "Mercury and Plastic", "Symbology", "Book of Mutations", "2012" (with The Elf Machine), "Tokyo Highway" (with the Elf Machine), "I/O" (with the Elf Machine), "Live at the Miramar" (with Interstitial), the Perimeter series (with James Johnson), and The Live Transmissions series (with James Johnson) were all released on AtmoWorks Music, which is a small artist owned label that I co-founded with James Johnson in late 2001. In between these more rhythmically charged albums, I also focused on the meditational and ethereal work with albums like "The Drift Inside", "Aeonian Glow" (both released on GreenHouse Music), "The Yellow House" (with Chris Short), "Live at Lakeview Planetarium", "Everything Seeks Balance", "Dreamers at the Edge of Decaying Light (early works vol.1)", "Primary Space (early works vol. 2)", "The Endless Days of The Mono Gods (early works vol. 3)", "A Flame That Leaves No Ashes", "Lumen", "Aquaculture" (with James Johnson & Chris Short), and "Not Even The Rain". I've also contributed as a guest artist for Steve Roach and have contributed to some compilations and label samplers. In addition to my own work, I've also done commercial work Sony Music/Sonic Foundry for the past 8 years. I've produced three loop libraries with them, "Infusion: Fractalized Grooves & Atmospheres", "Bug Report", and "Rhythmicronics". These loop libraries were specifically designed for Sony's music program, Acid and contain a lot of beats and grooves which were typical of the solo and collaborative music I was working on. They also contained a lot of atmospheric washes and other electronic odds and ends. I've also contributed loops and themes for their latest program, Cinescore, which is a music generation program for filmmakers. These days I am working on a number of ongoing collaborations with fellow artists and a few solo efforts. I am also focusing on my label AtmoWorks as a source to release music at will, without the possible impediment of a third party's agenda and occasionally host our online radio program, AtmoStreams. I am more inspired by paintings, drawings, films, and books, for creating music than I am by other's music. I consider myself a painter, primarily, using audio as a form of "paint" and the mind/ear as the "canvas". However, I do enjoy quite an eclectic array of music from many other composers, but I realize that I get more ideas for sound out of other things that occur in life, which I think keeps me from being too derivative of other's work. Music doesn't exit in a vacuum, I know, so I'm sure I could be compared to others, and generally find that i visit similar worlds of other musicians, but hopefully, have left my own mark. |
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Following the Call
The Color of Light
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03-15-2010 New Reviews featuring A Delicate Balance by Lisa Downing |
Sounds
to
Listen For
Voices of the Ancients
by Chad Kettering
Nothing, But Death
by Stray Ghost
Listen on Lala
Impressions Vol. 1
by Valdi Sabev
Listen on Lala
Ylang
by Robert Rich
Sun Tracer
by Phillip Wilkerson
Get your copy here
Monjour
by Anawaty/Russell
Listen on Lala
Relax Your Ears
by Joel Styzens
Listen on Lala
Hope
by Kendra Springer
Listen on Lala
In Flow of Light
by Julian Ray
Circular Scriptures
by Steve Brand
Imaginary Friends
by Various Artists
Listen on Lala
Hanging Masses
by Cell
Listen on Lala
The Ghosts of
Hanton Village
by Richard Bone
Virga
by Jeff Greinke
Destination Beyond
by Steve Roach
Between Worlds
by Deborah Martin
and Erik Wollo
Journey Through an Electric Garden
by Lemonchill
Listen on Lala
Inside the Voice Inside
by Pete Ardron
Listen on Lala
Wanderlust
by Terra Ambient
Listen on Lala
Divine Invasion
by Bluetech
Listen on Lala
Southampton Sunset
by Jane Leslie
Listen on Lala
The Edge of a Fairytale
by Between Interval
Early Works
by Phillip Wilkerson
The Twins
by Sky
Shade
by Parallel Worlds
Spirit Dome - Live Archive
by Steve Roach and vidna Obmana
Visionary Milieux
by Various Artists
Twin Earth: Collected Ambient Works
by Steve Rose
Vertigo
by David Schombert
Stream of Thought
by Steve Roach and Eric Wollo