a r t i s t : Northerner
t i t l e : The Ridings
d a t e : 2009
l a b e l : Home Assembly (HAM001)
g e n r e : Ambient
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2009
t r a c k s : 22
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 97,3 MB
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I'm loving this new Northerner album! Plain and simple it's
cocking ace. It's called The Ridings and it's 2 discs of
gloriousness all wrapped up in a fat fold out digipack. If you
buy The Ridings from us you get a proper nice 5 postcard set
in an envelope (not Basildon Bond tho...), and they're not
just any postcards. They're lovely photographs of Northern
things like walls and grass and all things blurry. (WE HAVE
RAN OUT OF THESE NOW!) It's all very Hood esque I have to say.
Freebies aside you get 2 discs of audio treasure for your
ears. The first disc is by Northerner and the 2nd album is a
the entire album remixed by a stellar line up you could only
dream about. You've got Fieldhead (from The Declining winter),
Bracken, Aus, The Declining Winter, Part Timer, Glen Shipley,
Gareth S Brown, Epic45 , Portal, Winter North Atlantic and
Yuri LugovSkoy. Enough of that though. The main album itself
is awesome. Gorgeous pastoral electronica with acoustic
guitars and a general ethereal lovelyness. Certainly fans of
the Make Mine Music camp will lap this up. Listening to it I'm
reminded of folks like July Skies, Epic45 but then you get
minimal crackly dubby techno tracks which are clearly
influenced by the Basic Channel label. Also there's the
Manual/ Morr thing going on at times so there's plenty for
everyone. It's a great album from start to end and I get the
urge to stick it back on when it's finished which is usually a
good sign (so rarely happens these days....). Then there's the
remix CD as well. wow! That's got some stunning mixes on there
but the names speak for themselves so I'll let them do the
talking. I can heartily recommend this one folks! 300 copies
only!
http://www.normanrecords.com/records/104530
Combining one disc of original compositions and another
featuring remixes by the likes of Part Timer, Bracken, Portal
and Epic45, this 2CD release from Bradford-based musician
Martin Cummings is the inaugural outing for the Home Assembly
label - an imprint that seems intent on cultivating the
musical outpourings of West Yorkshire (their next scheduled
release is from Hood founding member Richard Adams, whose
Declining Winter project is another contributor to the remix
disc). The Ridings draws together strands of guitar and
delicate electronics - not in a Fennesz-esque sort of way, but
rather by embedding lightly sculpted six-string textures in a
tapestry of field recordings and plugin tweaks. Some of the
music here retains a naturalistic quality, and the title track
in particular has the feel of a Make Mine Music release, full
of lyrical instrumentation and strange processed sounds, like
chopped up seagull calls. Many of the album's best moments
come from Northerner finding new ways of presenting solo
guitar passages, and the likes of 'Lost Logic', 'Caroline' and
'Titus' all bring a dreamlike haziness to the instrument.
Elsewhere, you may detect a more extreme 12k-type feel, with
the folded, heavily compressed instrumentation of 'Cull'
having a particularly close encounter with all things glitch.
After this excellent first disc we're treated to a
consistently surprising set of remixes, with highlights such
as Bracken venturing into dubstep with 'Fin', Part Timer
rendering gossamer sound sculptures from 'Lost Logic', Gareth
S Brown shaping 'Sleep' into a modern classical chamber
composition, and for the last track, Yuri Lugovsky drawing out
a gorgeous drone piece from 'Titus', which is transfigured by
glistening metallic resonance. Lovely.
http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=158767
http://www.homeassemblymusic.com
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Disc 1 - The Ridings
01-The Ridings [03:44]
02-Direction [04:04]
03-Caroline [02:29]
04-J C de M [03:06]
05-Cull [03:41]
06-Lost Logic [04:00]
07-Fin [03:17]
08-Titus [03:21]
09-The Cut [03:19]
10-Sleep [04:21]
11-Cull (reprise) [00:57]
Disc 2 - The Ridings Remixed
01-Cull (Fieldhead Remix) [04:19]
02-Fin (Bracken Remix) [05:12]
03-Direction (aus Remix) [04:36]
04-J C de M (The Declining Winter Remix) [04:21]
05-Lost Logic (Part Timer Remix) [02:58]
06-The Cut (Glen Shipley Remix) [03:14]
07-Sleep (Gareth S Brown Remix) [06:48]
08-Caroline (Epic45 Remix) [03:31]
09-The Cut (Portal Remix) [02:36]
10-The Ridings (Winter North Atlantic Remix) [03:08]
11-Titus (Yuri Lugovskoy Remix) [04:52]
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81:54 min