The Underground of Happiness

Simply put, this is a stunningly beautiful collection of instrumental compositions by Pieter Nooten , broadly speaking in ambient/neo-classical territory. Piano is the central instrument, carrying most of the melodies which are mournful but often intense. To my ears, there's some overlap with someone like Michael Nyman here and there, and elements of Steve Reich and minimalism generally, but really this is romantic music at its core. Music to move you, deeply, emotionally. Heart music. This album is also part of a particular conceptual project, on which there's more background here. “…Pieter Nooten’s all instrumental new double album ‘Haven’ is the third in the series of solo-releases entirely composed and mixed on the Mac Book Pro. Forced to disregard the frills of most hi-end ambient/neo-classical productions Nooten nevertheless produced one the most authentic and exemplary sounding CDs of this year. ‘Haven’ has the true mark of the contiguous quality and style ...

Originally published on http://wearenoise.com/index.php/2012/06/slow-place-like-home-there-go-the-lights-again-ep/ More superior ambient electronica delivered with gusto (a technical term) from the Atlantic North West. Meet Keith Mannion from Donegal, who marshals synths, drum machines and samplers but keeps them sounding warm and organic. His Coastal hubs for chivalry EP in January made a very good impression on me and, if anything, this one is even better. ‘You’re so square you’ve got corners’ kicks things off on quite a bright uptempo note, high pitched snares and laser gun drum fills under intertwining synth lines carrying the middle ground, until it gathers its forces with the extremely hummable refrain “ you’re not awake ”. Speaking of hummable, the bassline is a whole hook unto itself. ‘Selkie’ we’ve mentioned previously, a child’s spoken intro of “ bzzz said the bumble bee ” prefacing a gorgeous, pastoral instrumental over a dainty breakbeat, using flute and harpsi...

Just time for a quick mention of new music from friend to the show Markus Mehr , from Augsburg in Germany. A couple of years ago, he brought out a really beautiful album of ambient instrumentals, Lava , on the ever wonderful Hidden Shoal label, embroidered with his distinctive guitar drone designs. At the time, he spoke to me on the phone from Germany - that's an interview you can find over there on the right of the page (that's right, I'm not going to link it, don't be lazy, it's just over there...). The new material is a 2-track album called In , the first part of an ambitious-sounding triptych, with On and Off to follow later this year. Personally, I can't wait. Check out a couple of excerpts from In down here, it's therapeutic.

We mentioned last month the lead track from this album (first released in 2005 on Tell All Records ), from the man who is one half of American experimental pop duo Boxharp . Its seven instrumental tracks run continuously, proceeding at glacial pace - turning, shifting, transforming in a slow, deliberate melt. Textures derive from guitar and synth smears, as well as tape manipulations and field recordings, producing a symphony of heart-tugging power. Overall, there is a pastoral rather than an industrial feel, with the humming and groaning and rumbling of the natural world being evoked. It would be wrong to single out one track over another – you need to hear this river in flow. Suffice to say, this is an ambient work of sublime beauty. *As a post-script, Mark and Laura Solter have put together a wonderful piece of film to accompany the entire album. It's called Twins and Wives , it's a series of stately tableaux (of rural and nature scenes mostly) and you can watch it here. ...

We were talking last month about a new album due out on Erased Tapes , the self-titled debut from A Winged Victory for the Sullen , the collaboration between Stars of the Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and L.A. pianist Dustin O'Halloran . That's a band name which could go either way, ambitious or pompous, depending on the content of the music. You can test the question now by listening to it in full on this link. A Winged Victory For The Sullen (EXCLUSIVE FULL ALBUM STREAM) by erasedtapes You'll notice early on that it's completely instrumental and conducted at a moderate to slow pace. I think it's a monumental piece of work, personally. It feels like it has the power to divide the world between the time before you heard it, and the time since. There's a kind of floating, unearthly beauty about it. Starting immediately with the plangent piano chords of We played some open chords and rejoiced... . And the strings with ambient soundscape melancholia of Requi...

As a follow up to the recent news about the new album by A Winged Victory for the Sullen on Erased Tapes , here's a video teaser for the album just released. It features footage from a recording session at the DDR Studios in Berlin , no less. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – DDR Studios Trailer from Erased Tapes on Vimeo . And with a little bit of digging, it turns out that music is taken from the second track to be released from the upcoming album. It's called Requiem for the Static King Part One . Listen to it in full here. A Winged Victory For The Sullen - Requiem For The Static King Part One by erasedtapes Seriously, on the basis of just two tracks, this album is shaping up to be one of the highlights of the year.

Brian Eno's new album, Drums between the bells , his second on Warp , came out last month. In fact, it's a collaboration with poet Rick Holland . I've just heard a few tracks from it on a sampler, but one tune in particular has really stuck with me. It's a beautiful slice of drifting guitar and synth kosmische, with a straight-faced female spoken word monologue, describing the view, in a sort of impressionistic fashion, from the top of a skyscraper in New York - " from the top of this high rise, people as small as the pigment in your eyes ." It's surprisingly romantic given the delivery, with a dizzy, swooning quality to the arrangement. Brian Eno - pour it out (taken from Drums Between The Bells) by Warp Records I don't know who's responsible for the vocal but the delivery reminds me a lot of Berit Immig from Berlin-based band Omo . They released one of my favourite albums of the last few years in 2009, The white album on LoAF . Many o...

We always look forward to e-mails from Erased Tapes here at UOH HQ, but a particularly nice one arrived today. Have a listen here while reading below - rather than make up a load of other stuff, I've just copied the very well written press release. It makes more sense anyway, because there's a bit of a backstory, which you'll notice includes the late Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) , as well as Peter Broderick , two of the people we love most in music. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears by erasedtapes CONTENT: ‘ A Winged Victory For The Sullen’ is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars Of The Lid founder Adam Wiltzie and L.A. composer Dustin O’Halloran . The duo agreed to leave the comfort zone of their home studios and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, hunting down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was...

Antonymes - A licence to interpret dreams (Hidden Shoal) A deceptively simple set of neo-classical instrumentals (there is spoken word on one track), featuring piano, atmospherics and heart-swelling orchestral arrangements, from north Wales' Ian Hazeldine. There's a stillness and glacial beauty about these tunes which inevitably bring existential matters to mind. The maritime pull of The siren, hopelessly lost , for example. Or The Gospel Pass , with a religious bearing brought on by a solemn church organ. The single Endlessly somehow draws a rumbling chord from a series of ineffable tones. An unexpected muted trumpet fanfare opens The door towards the dream , followed by a female soprano signalling the stars. The Reichian piano structure of A light from the heavens is gradually submerged under yearning cellos. Honestly, the fact that one man/the world can produce an album this gorgeous gives hope for the future of the human race. *I must say also that ambient opener A frag...

To decorate the place a little bit, and add some content, I'm going to post some past interviews we've had on the show. Some of my favourites were recorded last year, including this one with German ambient artist Markus Mehr , over the phone from his home in Augsburg last September, to mark the release of his excellent album Lava . The conversation ranged across electric toothbrushes, Black Sabbath, Depeche Mode, what it's like living in small town Germany while making experimental pop music, the bar-raising pressure of live performance, and more. One particularly interesting thing to come out of the interview was the fact that most of the sounds on the album were generated from a guitar (Markus' first, and main, instrument). This isn't at all obvious, due to the various filters and effects the guitar sounds are fed through. You can listen to the interview on the link at the bottom. Also check a track from the album here, the compelling Cousteau - the beautifu...