Peter Michael Hamel — “Aura” — Hamel — Wah Wah (reissue) Terry Riley — “Journey from the Death of a Friend” — Les Yeux Fermes & Lifespan — Elision Fields 9:50 AM Irina Mikhailova — “Pusto Mladost” — Fearless — Elefaria Vas — “Mandara” — Feast of Silence — Narada World. Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs tagged as #Peter Michael Hamel with no restrictions, modern design. Peter Michael Hamel — The Voice Of Silence (1973).
Early last week, a list appeared – Pitchfork’s As it began to do the rounds, I was surprised. Ambient music didn’t seem like the magazine’s forte.
In the last few years, there’s been a surprising growth of interest in the genre – one small element of a larger cultural reappraisal of the history of recorded music, bringing to light thousands of albums once thought lost to the shadows of time, and in the case of Ambient, reigniting it as a relevant contemporary pursuit. As a fan, I was naturally curious about what Pitchfork had to say. As a fairly serious record collector, I tend to offer these lists a suspicious eye – particularly because most seem to conceived as click bait and content filler, rather that offering their subjects the attention and thought they deserve. I bit the worm.
Upon entry, I was startled to find myself faced with Keith Fullerton Whitman’s words. Things were looking up.
Keith is a remarkable musician – one for whom I carry a deep respect (the only in memory, to make my ribs noticeably vibrate with ecstatic joy). He’s also a serious collector, runs, and carries an astounding a wealth of knowledge – arguably unparalleled in the fields of Electronic and Ambient music. There’s no one better to pen such a list. This was going to be good. My heart skipped. Excited, I wondered if this was to be the Ambient equivalent of Thurston Moore’s, Alan Licht’s, or those lovely Jim O’Rourke squirreled away.
The hope was short lived. Keith had only written the introduction. Things plummeted downward from the beauty of his words. Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Company – Mother Mallard’s Portable Masterpiece Co.
(1973)Stuart Dempster – In The Great Abbey Of Clement VI (1979)How history has missed Stuart Dempster, I have no idea – particularly with the towering brilliance of 1979’s In The Great Abbey Of Clement VI. This work is an unheralded masterpiece. It should be in the collection of every fan of Minimalism and Ambient music. Dempster is a trombonist and composer, who for many years collaborated Pauline Oliveros. Together with Panaiotis, they founded the iconic the Deep Listening Band. In The Great Abbey Of Clement VI is a solo work for trombone and plastic sewer pipe. After that, I shouldn’t need to say more.
It’s an astounding and stunningly beautiful piece of work, leaving the listener lost in other worlds of shimmering ambience and space. It’s slow, meditative, and altering. Easily one of my favorite records of all time.
(For clarity, the album was issued with two covers. The first pressing is above, while the second is featured in the video below). Stuart Dempster – In The Great Abbey Of Clement VI (1979)Chas Smith – Santa Fe (1982)I don’t know much about Chas Smith. He’s an incredible peddle steal player, worked with Harold Budd over the years, and was among the astounding stable of artists issued by Cold Blue.
For those unaware of it (I’ve been meaning to write a profile for a while) Cold Blue was a short lived California based label during the early 80’s (recently reestablished), which released seven 10″ records dedicated to a stunning group of West coast composers. They also issued one LP by Daniel Lentz, and an incredible (and still very affordable) compilation which features Harold Budd, James Tenney, Ingram Marshall, among many others. I can’t remember how I came across Smith’s Santa Fe, but it graced the upper tiers of my want list for many years – subsequently introducing me to the larger body of artists on the label.
It’s a thing of beauty – at times sounding more like a synthesizer than a guitar. It ripples with ambience, space, and restraint. Definitely an unsung masterpiece, and worthy of the hunt. Chas Smith – Santa Fe, From Santa Fe (1982)Frank Perry – Deep Peace (1981)Frank Perry is a fascinating figure, and not one you would expect to find in the world of ambience. Over the course of his career as a drummer, he’s collaborated with Alan Davie, Keith Tippett, David Toop, Max Eastley, Evan Parker, Paul Kossoff, among countless others.
His solo output is another thing. During the early 80’s Perry began releasing albums with heavy New Age themes.
Deep Peace is the the first of these. It’s a complex album which shouldn’t be dismissed for first appearances. It occupies a fascinating middle ground between the Tibetan singing bowl recordings you’re likely to hear in hippie shop, what you might expect from a master of avant-garde percussion, and the kind of tonal relationships first displayed within Groupe de Recherches Musicales. It’s brilliant, challenging, and immersive. Though I’ve bought ambient records since my late teens, it was strictly dictated by chance encounter and taste.
It wasn’t something I actively pursued. Perry’s Deep Peace changed all that. He opened up this world, and changed my pursuit of the spacial possibility of sound.
Perry’s depth and breadth is striking. It immerses the listener in resonances, harmonics, and dissonances which you almost never find in the world of New Age. He pushes the possibilities of ambience into new realms, and defies what we presume to know. This is one of those records that doesn’t deserve to be tied down. Frank Perry – Temple of Sound, from Deep Peace (1981)Peter Michael Hamel – Colours Of Time (1980)Peter Michael Hamel’s 1973 album The Voice Of Silence, is one of my favorite records of all time. A masterwork of the German hippie avant-garde.
I was so moved by my first listen, that I spent years hunting for a copy, and was compelled to dive into the depths of the composer’s remaining discography. Of those I discovered, Colours Of Time is among my favorites. Released in 1980, it’s definitely starting to drift toward New Age – with sweeping ambient passages and repetitive synthesizer tones, but it’s still solidly in the avant-garde. It’s kind of a bent, darker, and more ambient version of Terry Riley’s world, which in turn gives way to other realms. This is the only allowance I’m giving myself for repetition. It was mentioned on Dave Segal’s list, but is generally so overlooked, that I thought it was worth raising again. Peter Michael Hamel – Colours Of Time Part 2 (1980)Craig Kupka – Clouds – New Music For Relaxation (1981)There isn’t a lot of information out there about Craig Kupka.
In five years, between 1979 and 83, he recorded as many albums, and then seems to have disappeared from the recording world. He was a member of the Los Angeles dance scene in the 70s, and the bulk of his output is dedicated to music for that field. In 1981 he released Clouds – New Music For Relaxation on Folkways – a record dedicated to relaxing sounds.
Kupka’s two albums for the label are frustratingly rare, but if you can’t track down the LPs, has them on CD. In my view, they are among the best of what New Age has to offer, while bringing a bit more. Though spaced out, filled with trickling tones and ambiences built from synths, guitar, bells, and vibraphone, Clouds possesses a harmonic complexity which is rare in the genre. It’s a world I could happily live within, and one worth the wait it takes to track it down. Craig Kupka – Clouds 2, from Clouds – New Music For Relaxation (1981)Synergy – Computer Experiments Volume One (1981)Computer Experiments Volume One is a strange one-off endeavor by a fairly prolific studio musician named Larry Fast.
During the 70’s and 80’s he worked with everyone from Yes, Peter Gabriel, Meatloaf, Hall and Oats, and Kate Bush, as well as recording Prog opuses under the name Synergy. In 1981 he embarked on a series of experiments with a self-composing computer program – hooked to a modular synth. The result was Computer Experiments Volume One. I have no idea how much control Fast had, but it’s amusing to think that his best album was composed with none of his input at all. Anyway you look at it, the record is fantastic. Harsh droning resonances intertwining, while penetrated by brittle tones. It has all the hallmarks of a classic New Age, but feels bent and fucked – almost as though the dream was going wrong before the computer’s eyes.
Synergy – The World After April, from Computer Experiments Volume One (1981)Roger Winfield – Windsongs (1991)Roger Winfield’s Windsongs is an astounding thing of beauty. It’s one of the greatest Ambient albums I can call to mind, and yet doesn’t have the hand of its composer anywhere to be found. Winfield is a member of a very small number of instrument makers whose music is played by the wind.
I have one other record by such an artist from the early 70’s. I bought it thinking it was unique take on sound sculpture, and the work of figures like Harry Bertoia. When I discovered Windsongs, I wondered if there were more. It turns out there are. Winfield’s instruments are called Aeolian harps. They apparently have ancient origins in a smaller form, and were incredibly popular during the 17th century – placed in windows to generate harmonic ambience. Winfield’s version of the instrument is on the grand scale.
I feel like I remember being fascinated by something similar in Boston as a kid. Truthfully the backstory of little consequence. The sounds speak for themselves, and thus what I’ll let them do.
They’re astounding and timeless – resonant harmonics bound within recordings of the wind.
Another huge reissue comes from the Wah Wah Supersonic Sounds camp with early 70’s modern classic masterpiece The Voice Of Silence from Peter Michael Hamel. Dominating the entire A-side is the epic ‘Panta Tanra’, a tantric excursion into delicate minimalistic piano interplay similar to the seminal works of Steve Reich or Philip Glass. On the other side is ‘Ego-Loss (Let The Red Buddha Amithaba Sweep You Along)’ which focuses on a single solitary drone and a haunting, avant-garde vocal clipping that flirts between being arrestingly beautiful to quite disturbing. Track ListA Panta Tantra 20:47B1 The Voice Of Silence 16:10B2 Ego-Loss (Let The Red Buddha Amithaba Sweep You Along) 6:45. Cookies PreferencesFor information about cookies that are required for this website to operate correctly, please read our.You can choose to opt out of the following cookies:Analytics CookiesGoogle Analytics is used to track usage of this website anonymously. Turning off will mean that your IP address is not sent to Google.Marketing and Advertising CookiesThis site tracks activity, used for customised advertising across several services (Facebook).
Bookworm adventures 2 online game. To play this game, simply enter your email and password. Is your vocabulary ready for the biggest adventure of your life? Use special power-ups, boost your attacks and vanquish extremely strong boss characters in your quest to find the Oracle. Unlock other game modes and play several mini-games.
Turning off will mean that your activity is not sent to these services.