wc_helmets
A daunting collection. Kinda lo-fi tangerine dream but it moves so many places. Excellent collection of sound expertly arranged.
Favorite track: Arctic (66° 30’N).
Greg Nieuws
Beautiful layers of soundscapes synth and field recordings/samples. I can get lost in this one for days, and come out with no frostbite or malaria.
Favorite track: Equator (0°).
This is an attempt to musically express our planet’s current environment and those possible implications.
I have made 5 pieces based on the 5 main circles of latitude. The Arctic, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, The Equator and Antartica. They are often without strict tempo or key simply following stretched out recordings of weather or the sounds of trees moving. I use these to structure and tune the music. Yes, sometimes there is a pulse but no bars; I refuse, this is the earth without walls. An attempt to form patterns in the pools or the acres of waving grasses. Music was placed by eye or ear on the grid. Takes were recorded in real time. If it was 30 minutes in, I would wait to reach that moment - that feel.
The Equator in particular passes specifically over and through geographical land marks and degrees, running at just over 36 minutes as we end at the beginning.
The idea is to connect us more to the earth. We are mud and compost. From there, all life must come and return. Hating it or abusing it will stop. Either we will learn or the planet will end our turn early for bad behaviour.
Earth Suite 1 (Arctic)
A violent, bleak and bloody place but geographically full of the most beautiful things. Everything is on the edge: life, death, vicious but joyful in the living. Then of course comes man. Now the arctic is melting we can see vast areas of discarded skulls - acres of our work. Snapping, boiling, taking. I’ve used these primal noises of bone sampled and applied. I like the grim. The music attempts to conjure up those images. Vast space full of wind and cold, with the alpha predators ruling the barren landscape.
Earth Suite 2 (Tropic of Cancer)
Much more plant life and water. The sea and jungles teaming… almost bubbling with activity. Insects, lizards snakes and desert and beautiful microtonal noises. Flowers so big their heads bigger than ours. Here I was lost on the paths of my forefathers. Ancient monuments are here, time seems almost too much, truly awe inspiring. The piece ends with Oil… big engines grinding away day after day. Easy access carbon. But, above us is the Sun, solar power ready, right at the point of failure - these ideas can save us. Why aren’t we building miles and miles of solar panels here. Why?
Earth Suite 3 (The Equator)
This is a possible future - dark but entirely plausible. The piece starts in Indonesia. The Islands are drowning. Further East in Kiribati their president is buying land abroad to house his submerging population. The music travels deep into the pacific past subterranean wonders and life in the deepest trench. Up into Ecuador, through to the Amazon each minute a degree of the earth. In the Amazon fire has destroyed everything, the odd bird and a smouldering wasteland. Then we fall back into the Atlantic. Dolphins, Whales and creatures unseen. here are strange sounds radio like pulses of life. After, we reach Africa (an amazing continent - the cradle of our troubled species). Here we travel across the Savannah and into poverty and war. Finally, I cross the Indian Ocean full of eutrophication and algae blooms, dead. Then Singapore and back at around 36 minutes to Indonesia, of course, it is no longer, there is just sea. I know these are sometimes hard stories but we are on the cusp, success or failure is our choice.
Earth Suite 4 (Tropic of Capricorn)
Australia with it’s separate evolutionary path. Natural development separate from everywhere else and completely a one off. Massive deep oceans of course. Here drones were just too tempting, no didgeridoo, but the concept on guitars and moog I lost myself. Incredible heat and fire, burning, charring then up into vast expanses of mountains and sky. Birds, life; all so epic. Humidity at times completely consuming us in wetness. I want the listener to travel along these lines to experience them as places in the mind, their home in fact. An amazing place and so far like the entire planet utterly precious and unique.
Earth Suite 5 (Antartica)
The last and final piece is a herald, a call to action. We must stand up and fight for what we believe in. Man has made a mess, he has fucked up to an astronomical degree. But we do have great ideas, technology and power. As a species, we can do such wonders such beautiful things. I am full of hope and belief. This last piece is barren, dark and full of long winter. However, also, I wonder at the brilliance of it all. The random miracle of Saturn crashing around a younger universe to create the conditions and gravity we now enjoy.
The creation of an earth that can support such wonderful diversification and natural brilliance. Fuck, its mad.
The end of this whole suite is a void… the endless universes of possibility, potentials and outcomes; unknown, but maybe journeys to a future of success. Fight, stand up, believe.
From the always-great label Umor Rex comes the latest from Lina Filipovich: A ruthless deconstruction of classical pieces. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 25, 2022
A reissue of experimental group Zann’s mindbending and insanely rare 1990 LP showcases their unique mix of ambient, jazz, and Krautrock. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 5, 2019
