there's an interview with Faust and live recordings on this player
Monday, 28 June 2010
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
North Wales Jaunt
this last week i was bumming around north west Wales.
we stayed here...
This was the view from our room
the pointy mountain nearest the left is Snowdon.
Did a lot of mooching around but best of all we went to Port Meirion
which was where they made...
There are more photos on my flickr page
we stayed here...
This was the view from our room
the pointy mountain nearest the left is Snowdon.
Did a lot of mooching around but best of all we went to Port Meirion
which was where they made...
There are more photos on my flickr page
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Wonderful Wooden Reasons #34
hi folks
the new issue (#34) of Wonderful Wooden Reasons is now online as is the mixcloud mix.
It can be read either here or here
It's the usual mixed bag of genres. I hope you find something you like.
albums by...
Chemins
DIODAAR
Fukuoka, Garcia, Henritzi, Izarzugaza, Karpenter, Mantizidisor
Grozny Penthouse
Rolf Julius
Marinos Koutsomichalis
Richard Moult
David Newlyn
No Context
N.Strahl.N
Obsil
Quetev Meriri
Seasons (pre-din)
Sujo
Philip Sulidae
Syrinx
Darren Tate
Carlos Villena
David Wells
Simon Whetham
the new issue (#34) of Wonderful Wooden Reasons is now online as is the mixcloud mix.
It can be read either here or here
It's the usual mixed bag of genres. I hope you find something you like.
albums by...
Chemins
DIODAAR
Fukuoka, Garcia, Henritzi, Izarzugaza, Karpenter, Mantizidisor
Grozny Penthouse
Rolf Julius
Marinos Koutsomichalis
Richard Moult
David Newlyn
No Context
N.Strahl.N
Obsil
Quetev Meriri
Seasons (pre-din)
Sujo
Philip Sulidae
Syrinx
Darren Tate
Carlos Villena
David Wells
Simon Whetham
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
First review of 'The Earth in Play' now online
big thanks as ever to Frans over at Vital Weekly.
Following his solo 'poppy' sample madness of 'Handle This Wino Like He Was Angel' (see Vital Weekly 721) Ian Holloway returns here to his familiar background that of drone music, along with Darren Tate, who is of course known as the man behind Ora. He plays 'squeeze box', guitar and percussion) here, while Holloway takes responsibility for piano, wooden flute and sea recordings. Its divided in two parts, of which the second is the longer piece. The first is an intro like piece for some flowing synthesizer like sounds, and then it goes into the second piece, the main thing. Its hard to recognize many of the instruments used in this tracks, squeeze box? percussion? A guitar, yes, sea sounds, yes, piano too. Its perhaps too easy to say that this is just a beautiful piece of music, but it is. A great slow flow of sounds, a quiet sea on a calm day type of music. Nothing more, nothing less than just that. Nothing new under the burning drone sun, but in these capable hands a great piece of
music.
.......................
I'm up to my eyeballs in work here at the moment. Between writing the new issue of WWR (online this coming Sunday all being well) and writing the lectures for the (now three) courses that i'll be teaching come September I'm drowning in work. Lecturing wise I'm trying to get as much done now as i can before i start the 2 year course i'm signed up for in august which will be a ridiculous amount of extra work. hopefully the extra cash will make things feel less of a chore cause i'm brutally skint.
anyway, i've been pottering around quietly with some tunes for the Pendulum 2 (not it's finished title) album i've been planning. i'm four tracks into it and it's sounding pretty good so far. this is one of them. the vid was made on my digital camera walking along Pennard cliffs, Mumbles promenade and Llangennith beach. hope you dig it.
Following his solo 'poppy' sample madness of 'Handle This Wino Like He Was Angel' (see Vital Weekly 721) Ian Holloway returns here to his familiar background that of drone music, along with Darren Tate, who is of course known as the man behind Ora. He plays 'squeeze box', guitar and percussion) here, while Holloway takes responsibility for piano, wooden flute and sea recordings. Its divided in two parts, of which the second is the longer piece. The first is an intro like piece for some flowing synthesizer like sounds, and then it goes into the second piece, the main thing. Its hard to recognize many of the instruments used in this tracks, squeeze box? percussion? A guitar, yes, sea sounds, yes, piano too. Its perhaps too easy to say that this is just a beautiful piece of music, but it is. A great slow flow of sounds, a quiet sea on a calm day type of music. Nothing more, nothing less than just that. Nothing new under the burning drone sun, but in these capable hands a great piece of
music.
.......................
I'm up to my eyeballs in work here at the moment. Between writing the new issue of WWR (online this coming Sunday all being well) and writing the lectures for the (now three) courses that i'll be teaching come September I'm drowning in work. Lecturing wise I'm trying to get as much done now as i can before i start the 2 year course i'm signed up for in august which will be a ridiculous amount of extra work. hopefully the extra cash will make things feel less of a chore cause i'm brutally skint.
anyway, i've been pottering around quietly with some tunes for the Pendulum 2 (not it's finished title) album i've been planning. i'm four tracks into it and it's sounding pretty good so far. this is one of them. the vid was made on my digital camera walking along Pennard cliffs, Mumbles promenade and Llangennith beach. hope you dig it.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Ian Holloway & Darren Tate - The Earth In Play
the new album will be available from Wednesday 12th May but for those of you who like to try before you buy...
Sunday, 2 May 2010
The Earth In Play album art
i've been a busy chappy today working on the art for the new album. I'd done a version the other week but wasn't really happy with it so today i really went to town on it.
I'm pretty pleased with the finished version. the album will be going to the printers sometime next week so it'll be out in about a fortnight.
peace
I'm pretty pleased with the finished version. the album will be going to the printers sometime next week so it'll be out in about a fortnight.
peace
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Mixing the Quiet World
It's been a pretty tedious day today. It's been pissing down all day and so I've spent it sat here feeling cooped up and slightly ill. I really wanted to spend the day under a tree with my book and a bottle but the weather put paid to that idea. also was meant to be going to a gig tonight but my lift cancelled at the last moment and i couldn't be bothered to go on my own so, crap day followed by crap evening.
but it did mean i could get on with something I'd planned to do the other day and so i busied myself making a Mixcloud mix of old Quiet World tracks. There's one unreleased track on there (the second) but the rest are all taken from previous QW and ECR releases. hope you enjoy.
but it did mean i could get on with something I'd planned to do the other day and so i busied myself making a Mixcloud mix of old Quiet World tracks. There's one unreleased track on there (the second) but the rest are all taken from previous QW and ECR releases. hope you enjoy.
Quiet World by Quietworld on Mixcloud
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Gambolling dirt
After about 10 months of promising to do it i've finally finished the new collaboration with Darren Tate. It's a two track album called 'The Earth In Play' and it's a lot mellower and less intense than recent releases. no keyboard drones on this one it's all acoustic. Darren sent me some accordian and strange percussive noises (made on a guitar and a bowl) which i mixed with some field recordings, a great long layered wooden flute drone and some of my rudimentary piano playing. hopefully you'll dig it. i like it and darren's response was pretty enthusiastic. no release date as yet but i'd hazard a guess that it'll be in about a month.
Thursday, 22 April 2010
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
grave hunting
Went for a long walk the other day and took some photos. the second one was taken from where i was crashed out in the third one.
An ancient burial site in a place called Tinkinswood.
another ancient burial site. this one was for a greyhound.
taking a well needed break. it was unseasonably warm after such a long cold winter.
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An ancient burial site in a place called Tinkinswood.
another ancient burial site. this one was for a greyhound.
taking a well needed break. it was unseasonably warm after such a long cold winter.
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tired, so very tired.
have run myself ragged over the last week and a half but able to go back to work soon for a bit of a rest.
the new issue of the zine is up. no podcast as yet as i've not had time but hopefully soon.
a new review of A Brief Sojourn arrived today from Evening Of Light - my thanks to Oscar.
the new issue of the zine is up. no podcast as yet as i've not had time but hopefully soon.
a new review of A Brief Sojourn arrived today from Evening Of Light - my thanks to Oscar.
In terms of quality releases, things have been running smoothly for Welsh drone/ambient label Quiet World. A recent example is A Brief Sojourn, a collaboration between Banks Bailey and Ian Holloway, delivering well over half an hour of finely blended drones and field recordings.
The sound on this album is most comparable to that on Summerland, where both men worked together with Darren Tate. A heavy dose of nature sounds like rain, birds, rustlings, are combined with subtle melodies, drones, and pulses, together forming a varied and atmospheric whole. The drones and weather sounds form an organic backdrop for a broad scala of unique ‘voices’.
The release isn’t very extreme at either end of the intensity spectrum; it maintains a stable level of layeredness and volume, without any strong eruptions of noise or silence. A perfect companion piece for a journey, a meditation or relaxation session, and the like. It’s a tad dark and ominous at times, so A Brief Sojourn will primarily be of interest to lovers of more obscure drone and ambient, but that goes for most of the Quiet World titles thus far. Compared to what went before, in any case, this one is certainly no disappointment.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
chilling with tea and a book
on holiday for two weeks. can't afford to go anywhere exotic so staying put and disappearing off on jaunts. today though is all about watching old episodes of doctor who, reading a victorian era who-dunnit, walking into mumbles for a mooch around and then getting a late breakfast in my favourite greasy-spoon cafe before heading home to repeat the first two.
got a new review yesterday for A Brief Sojourn and very nice it is too. thanks michael.
On A Brief Sojourn, Quiet World head Ian Holloway (formerly Psychic Space Invasion) constructs wonderfully solemn ambient gloriousness out of synthesizers and Banks Bailey's crisp, bucolic field recordings. It's a stellar match – this isn't the first time the two have collaborated – as Holloway's gloriously low-key drones coalesce perfectly with the incidental recordings: a trickling creek, wind in the thickets, insect symphonies... All together, the disc has that uncanny ability to take you to (your own mental rendition of) the sound sources themselves, though imbued with an inner tranquility that meshes perfectly with the pastoral nature of the audio. Through the album's lone, substantial composition, several stretches of mood are encountered, including periods of uplifting lightness, vague menace, and dreary longingness. Certainly, one of Holloway's core talents is his ability to conjure up these feelings with such minimal sonic output – it's all about sound placement and the choice of tones. Design aside, however, what results from all this is a thirty-six minute passage of sound that is at once marvellously listenable, exquisite to rest to, and more than a little reminiscent of ambient work by Biosphere – especially with regards to the field recordings, which remind one of a less polar formulation of Geir Jenssen's atmospheric designs. A subtle treat. - Michael Tau,
got a new review yesterday for A Brief Sojourn and very nice it is too. thanks michael.
On A Brief Sojourn, Quiet World head Ian Holloway (formerly Psychic Space Invasion) constructs wonderfully solemn ambient gloriousness out of synthesizers and Banks Bailey's crisp, bucolic field recordings. It's a stellar match – this isn't the first time the two have collaborated – as Holloway's gloriously low-key drones coalesce perfectly with the incidental recordings: a trickling creek, wind in the thickets, insect symphonies... All together, the disc has that uncanny ability to take you to (your own mental rendition of) the sound sources themselves, though imbued with an inner tranquility that meshes perfectly with the pastoral nature of the audio. Through the album's lone, substantial composition, several stretches of mood are encountered, including periods of uplifting lightness, vague menace, and dreary longingness. Certainly, one of Holloway's core talents is his ability to conjure up these feelings with such minimal sonic output – it's all about sound placement and the choice of tones. Design aside, however, what results from all this is a thirty-six minute passage of sound that is at once marvellously listenable, exquisite to rest to, and more than a little reminiscent of ambient work by Biosphere – especially with regards to the field recordings, which remind one of a less polar formulation of Geir Jenssen's atmospheric designs. A subtle treat. - Michael Tau,
Thursday, 25 March 2010
New items in the Quiet World Shop
I'm having a clearout and as i have a lot of stuff knocking around the house this may take a while.
Most of it will go on ebay (user id elviscoffee) but a lot of it will be added to the shop on the QW site.
I only started doing this earlier today and as I'm otherwise occupied over the coming weekend it's unlikely to be added to in the next few days but over time there'll be a large amount of cds and books appearing on there.
Contact me if you're interested in anything.
Most of it will go on ebay (user id elviscoffee) but a lot of it will be added to the shop on the QW site.
I only started doing this earlier today and as I'm otherwise occupied over the coming weekend it's unlikely to be added to in the next few days but over time there'll be a large amount of cds and books appearing on there.
Contact me if you're interested in anything.
Friday, 19 March 2010
Celtic Mystic?
another review of the new album, this time from The Sound Projector. I'm a pretty new convert to the zine. i've known about it for a while but it kept slipping off my radar. he updates weekly with about 5 new reviews and i think it's well worth ckecking out.
Celtic mystic Ian Holloway was last heard from us when he was musing about the fragility of dragonfly wings at the end of last year. On Handle this wino like he was an angel: Baubles & Gewgaws 2002-2008 (QUIET WORLD 13), he delves into a secret folder on his home PC, contents of said folder of a nature and value known only to himself. Said contents built up over time when he was producing numerous albums and tracks as Psychic Space Invasion between 2002 and 2008. On that basis, one might be forgiven for thinking this is just a collection of anonymous computer music, but this little Chinese puzzle is a far more interesting listen than the banal filtered samples and boring processed loops that most creators manage to summon up from their Samsungs. I rather feel Holloway has somehow left a collection of his own mental imprints in the very circuits of his PC, and he needed only activate a few keystrokes to let these strange ideas and impressions come tumbling out.
I'm so glad Wino is getting nice reviews. I really didn't know what to expect as it's so different from anything else i've done in recent years. it's a good feeling when you get positive feedback on something.
have a great weekend.
Celtic mystic Ian Holloway was last heard from us when he was musing about the fragility of dragonfly wings at the end of last year. On Handle this wino like he was an angel: Baubles & Gewgaws 2002-2008 (QUIET WORLD 13), he delves into a secret folder on his home PC, contents of said folder of a nature and value known only to himself. Said contents built up over time when he was producing numerous albums and tracks as Psychic Space Invasion between 2002 and 2008. On that basis, one might be forgiven for thinking this is just a collection of anonymous computer music, but this little Chinese puzzle is a far more interesting listen than the banal filtered samples and boring processed loops that most creators manage to summon up from their Samsungs. I rather feel Holloway has somehow left a collection of his own mental imprints in the very circuits of his PC, and he needed only activate a few keystrokes to let these strange ideas and impressions come tumbling out.
I'm so glad Wino is getting nice reviews. I really didn't know what to expect as it's so different from anything else i've done in recent years. it's a good feeling when you get positive feedback on something.
have a great weekend.
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