Colleen - Bubbles On Which The Water Swim

Today's track is not new by any means, but great still. It comes to us from Colleen, Leaf Label resident and was released in 2005 on the album entitled The Golden Morning Breaks. Since I am feeling lazy today, I will share with you her biography from her Myspace page:

Colleen is a French musician working within a minimalist and melodic aesthetic using acoustic instruments and modern technologies . She has released three albums on The Leaf Label, " Everyone alive wants answers" (2003), "The golden morning breaks" (2005) and "Les ondes silencieuses" (may 2007). She has also released a live recording in cult series "Mort aux Vaches" on Staalplaat in 2006 and an EP made entirely with music boxes, "Colleen et les boîtes à musique" (the result of a commission by national French radio station France Culture), in october 2006. In 2007 she also completed her first dance score for Franco-Swiss choreographer and dancer Perrine Valli's "Série. While her first album was made up entirely of acoustic samples taken from an eclectic record collection, her second album saw her explore a music full of magical details - instrumentals filled with warmth, melody and soul, phasing in and out, on the verge of collapse – with Colleen playing all the instruments herself (cello, classical guitar, ukulele, music boxes, windchimes, and a rare 19th century glass harmonicon). But her last album, "Les ondes silencieuses", is a kind of highly personal tribute to the sounds of bygone instruments and their resonance : the deep sounds of the viola da gamba – the 7-string ancestor of the cello – are left to shine out on their own, while other tracks explore the spinet (a small harpsichord), clarinet, classical guitar and crystal glasses. Colleen’s live shows, with their wide array of acoustic instruments, reflects her deep love of acoustic sounds, and the occasional use of looping and delay pedals brings her live music closer to the layered feel of her albums. For the past five years, she has been playing live all over Europe, the US and Japan, giving more than 130 shows in often prestigious or original venues and in world-renowned festivals.

Colleen - Bubbles Which On The Water Swim

Oren Ambarchi - Bleeding Shadow

Today we have a release from the prolific Oren Ambarchi, who played an amazing show here in Minneapolis a while back with Boris and Sunn0))) at the Walker. This track is the B-side off of the 7" Destinationless Desire released by Touch Music.

Here is a little bit of the biography from Touch website:

Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, "re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it’s no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it’s a laboratory for extended sonic investigation". (The Wire, UK).

Ambarchi's work on harmonics and resonance has led him to define serene spaces of fluid, shifting sound that is both fragile and extremely physical. His solo releases Grapes From The Estate, Suspension and Insulation for UK label Touch, have transcended the guitar into a zone of alien beauty and sonic impossibilities to critical acclaim. In 2003 his live release Triste received an ‘honourary mention’ in the Prix Ars Electronica digital musics category.

This release is tough for me to post as there is deliberate ambiguity concerning the appropriate speed at which to play the record. Again, from the Touch website:

"As for the aspect of audience participation, we choose not to specify the RPM on the label, encouraging the listener to experiment with playback options and personal preferences. An attempt to make music that works at both speeds. The front cover might actually be the back cover..."

I have recorded it at 45 rpm because that is just what sounds right to me. At either speed, the track is a beautiful piece of experimental guitar music and should serve as a catalyst to seek out and purchase this and the other Touch Seven series releases.

Oren Ambarchi - Bleeding Shadow

Machinefabriek - Onkruid

Our first proper post here at Low Level Listening and it's the real deal. Coming to us from Rutger Zuyderveldt, aka Machinefabriek, Onkruid is a heavy, textual masterpiece which conveys an immense and foreboding sense of longing and loss. I agree with Boomkat in their acknowledgment of the emotional intensity required to absorb this piece. However, the reward is certainly worth the effort. One of the standout releases this year, Onkruid is truly a remarkable piece of music.

Released by A Room Forever and housed in a beautiful box with a c-print cover and a gorgeous little letter pressed insert. These guys are hand-stamped and individually numbered. 300 copies pressed.

Machinefabriek - Onkruid

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