Artist : Koen Holtkamp
Title : Field Rituals
Genre : Ambient
Year : 2008
Date : 10/2008
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 10
Label : Type Records TYPE035LP
Source : Vinyl
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 73:23 min
Size : 104,7 MB
Tracklist:
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01.half light 02:43
02.sky flowers 14:10
03.bee change 01:44
04.bear bell 09:11
05.walker 04:47
06.you mean the world to me 02:36
07.night swimmer 05:15
08.haus und spirale im regen 15:07
09.ringing worlds 08:57
(robert aiki aubrey lowe remix)
10.walker (xela rework) 08:53
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73:23 min
*LIMITED HAND-STAMPED DOUBLE VINYL EDITION,
350 COPIES ONLY FOR THE WORLD*
This long awaited debut album comes to us from Koen
Holtkamp, one half of revered New York recording duo
Mountains.
Having had a brief taster for his work as part of the 'A
Room Forever' record label / art project earlier this year,
we already had some idea of the luxuriously warm drones
and field recordings that would make up his full-length,
but 'Field Rituals' really has turned out to be an album
of quite exceptional scope and beauty.
We've always been engrossed and charmed by field
recordings, whether on the purist level perfected by the
likes of Chris Watson, or via the atmospheric backdrop
splicing utilised by so many contemporary composers,
but it's a subtle art that very quickly turns to clichΘ in the
wrong hands. Holtkamp definitively falls into the latter of
these two camps and avoids those traps, feeding in
narrative and found sounds into his emotionally pregnant
arrangements and placing emphasis on the approachability
of his music, always balancing out experimentation with
familiar sounds, and technique with compositional simplicity.
Sure we've heard field recordings, synthesizers and guitars
before, but rarely have these instruments been injected with
a lightness of touch and such a delicate ear. 'Field Rituals'
takes cues from the classic ambience of Brian Eno coupled
with the intimate grandeur more usually exploited by Arvo Part,
but it's the slow-burning pace of the album that's its single
most important facet, revealing an artist confident enough to
let us into his soundworld without hesitation or compromise,
one step at a time.
Sublime music, a massive recommendation.
http://www.typerecords.com