Category Archives: Ambient

INTERVIEW WITH HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS-MEMORIES OF 40 YEARS MAKING MUSIC

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Source: INTERVIEW WITH HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS-MEMORIES OF 40 YEARS MAKING MUSIC

A perfect primer to the career of one of Krautrock/Ambient Music’s most influential pioneers.

Prepare for the Halloween season, with Factmag’s list of the 100 greatest Horror soundtracks

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

If capitalism and it’s necessary corollary, consumerism (or maybe, vice versa), can keep pushing the Xmas season further out, I say we do the same for Halloween. Halloween: it’s not just a night anymore. Star the holiday season off right and check out Factmag for a diverse list of scary scores to get you in the mood. While, as with any such list, you can gripe about omissions, inclusions (actually, I have no complaint with any inclusion here), placement, etc, it’s still a great list that covers a wide berth. As someone who watches alotta Horror, and has a particular fondness for the soundtracks, the Factmag list kept surprising me with some truly obscure. and fantastic, selections, and has prompted me to check out some more modern sounds in the field (not that I haven’t been enjoying many of the new composers/bands that have been arising, already).

Horror soundtracks are currently enjoying an unprecedented level of interest, with numerous labels (Waxwork, Death Waltz, One Way Static, and others) currently releasing these soundtracks, some reissued, but many legitimately pressed for the first time. Not only that, you have a whole new crew of musicians and composers/producers dedicated to playing these vintage sounds. Artists and bands like Umberto, Brian Reitzell, Zombi, Nightcrawler and Crypt Vapor are introducing this genre to a whole new legion of fans. It’s also tremendously gratifying to see that originators like Goblin, Fabio Frizzi and now John Carpenter (his first live performance EVER is at ATP in Iceland, 2016!!!) performing for excited fans of a wide age range.

Without further ado, here’s Factmag’s list

The 100 greatest horror soundtracks


And interviews with the heads of the three labels mentioned above
http://www.horrornewsnetwork.net/articles/62-horror-movies/8076-the-revenge-of-the-vinyl-horror-soundtrack
A favorite, from a composer who I absolutely love, that I was pleasantly surprised to see included, proving the broad scope of sounds that fall into this category.

Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, slowed down, is a thing of beauty

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

I already love Wuthering Heights, but slowing it down has given it an ethereal presence which is stunning. Plus it’s been effective for me as a sleep aid, so there’s that. Call it the DJ Screw Chopped and Screwed version. Okay, not chopped, and probably too ambient for fans of the sizzurp, but you get the drifffffft.

John Carpenter to go on limited tour in support of Lost Themes, to which there will be a follow-up record, AND there’s a collaboration with Jean-Michel Jarre on his forthcoming record!

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

No dates released yet, but this is huge news for fans of John Carpenter as composer/musician. His first tour!

John Carpenter Working On Second Album: Limited Tour Coming?


Also, the snippets of the JMJ collaboration, in this interview, sounds EXACTLY like you want.

Happy birthday, Klaus Schulze

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Before embarking on a synthly single minded solo career, Klaus Schulze was briefly a drummer for Tangerine Dream (see amazing video from 1969 below), and a founding member of Ash Ra Tempel, whose Krautrock classic, 1971 eponymous debut, features his drumming and synth talents, as well.




Crazy that footage of this bizarre pairing exists. Absolutely love it!




Song of The Day: Tangerine Dream – Love On A Real Train

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

Mr Robot kept up it’s streak of fine musical selections by paying homage to the famous Risky Business subway scene, with it’s own, sans sex, complete with Tangerine Dream.

Also, check out this Club Silencio remix, which adds just enough thump to get it across on a modern dancefloor.

There’s a documentary on synthesizer pioneer, Suzanne Ciani, coming soon. Until then check out these amazing vintage clips

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

In the editing stage currently, A Life In Waves, hopes to expose the groundbreaking work of Suzanne Ciani to a larger audience. If the name is unfamiliar, you have probably heard her work in various advertisements for some of the world’s largest companies, or possibly on the classic pinball machine, Xenon. Or maybe you caught her on Late Night With David Letterman, 3-2-1 Contact, or on the Peter Ustinov hosted Omni (which features her working on Xenon!), where she was a spokesperson for innovations in keyboard sound and design. “Missed those”, you say? Well, here they are for your viewing pleasure, decades later.

Here’s a video from this year of Ciani performing on a the Moog System 55 modular

There’s also footage of Ciani working on her album, Seven Waves, in 1982

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/suzanne-ciani-interview

and the fully funded Kickstarter for the doc

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2100662212/suzanne-ciani-a-life-in-waves/description

Watch Land of The Minotaur (1976), featuring an original and otherwise unreleased score from Brian Eno!

Posted by Palmer Eldritch on

I think with the presence of Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, AND the Eno soundtrack (and a Satanic cult!), this has gotta be worth at least one watching, despite it’s 4.3 IMDB rating.