Reviews 2010

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Jeremy Bye from the much respected music review website The Silent Ballet has kindly reviewed the first 4 releases from Somehow. As well as the reviews, an interview with Co founder of Somehow Recordings Tim Brice can be found by clicking REVIEWS & INTERVIEW

Listening Mirror RIN Reviewed by Suitcase Orchestra

By minimalist standards, British duo Listening Mirror produce a wall of sound. Supplementing the drones and drawn out notes which form the bedrock of the genre, echoes of guitar and the human voice used as an instrument vary the picture here. Closing track Bontemp even comes close to solidifying into a tune.

Alessio Ballerini Me And Reviewed by Suitcase Orchestra

Alessio Ballerini s latest solo work, he also performs with the experimental quartet Beurk, is a work of contrasts. Opening with the simply beautiful Half Water, the album shifts back and forth between light and dark throughout. Title track Me And is a tense affair while In All Of Us throbs and rumbles mennacingly. It s the sound of the monster underneath the bed. The album takes flight again in Sun Of Venere, a flittering and dreamy piece which seems to rise in altitude as it progresses.

Joshua Carro - A Cyclic Symphony Reviewed by Norman Records

Somehow is a new label and they're doing wee runs of ambient/floaty/droney works in editions of 50 in slightly oversized CD packs. Here's the 1st of their choice morsels by a chap called Josuha Carro who is a sound artist from Phoenix, Arizona. 'A Cyclic Symphony' is split up into 6 parts and the whole album is full of those lush drones and tones that many of you fantasise about. Essentially it's drone music but there's quite a bit going on here as the music ebbs and flows quite a lot. It reminds me of some of the earlier Stars of The Lid stuff. Fans of Under The Spire, Home Normal, Hibernate etc should be excited by this.

Alessio Ballerini - me And Reviewed by Norman Records

Lush sound design, deep drone & ambiance from this talented producer. Long lingering washes of sound & gentle crackle give way to a track which demands the title "post-shoegaze shimmer of loveliness". This tune radiates both warmth & power, it fluctuates between neo-classical style drone & epic post-MBV style fuzzscapes. How much fun can you have with longingly sustained notes & blankets of digital static? Some of these sort of releases leave me stuck for words but this often has that grand, ascending quality which can take you up to the skies & leave you floating helplessly & happily up there. This definitely comes across as one of the more spiritual & fully realized drone/ambient releases we've had in for a while - quietly powerful music that literally carries you through different dimensions within the space of one short movement. The relatively long gaps between each track are very welcome as they give you a chance to absorb the peaceful waves of noise from the previous number before welcoming in the next ponderous introduction into the unknown. Really quality gear!

Listening Mirror - RIN Reviewed by Norman Records

Something mellow now. Listening Mirror are a new name to me and (I think) this is their debut release for the Somehow Recordings label. As ever these suckers are limited to 30 and we only get a handful so they rarely hang around for too long. Listening Mirror are Jeff & Kate and they make pretty sounding atmospheric ambient music and you'd be excused for thinking they were the new Celer as their sound is very similar. There's elements of drone and neo classical in there as the loveliness proceeds. This is lovely.... really lovely! I'm starting to get a bit wary of the vast quantities of ambient/ drone music hurling itself at us these days but this is genuinely lush sounding and well worth checking out. Reckon I'm gonna have one of these before they all go. Excellent!

Nobuto Suda Ecotone Reviewed by Suitcase Orchestra

Based in Kyoto, Japan, Nobuto Suda blends field recordings with ambient drones to produce a glacial slide through almost an hour. Even in such stark soundscapes as these, it s easy for field recordings to clutter the work but Suda succeeds in keeping his unobtrusive and they never once feel disruptive to the flow of the sound. Graceful and spacious, Ecotone is a must for anyone who likes to immerse themselves in miminalism.

MaCu Vol 4 Reviewed by Norman Records

Here a lady named Suzanne constructs a collection of six dark ambient works under the banner 'Fall'. The first segment features some sweet rainfall amongst the more ominous burgeoning sound sculpture. By the second 'movement' I'm tingling with trepidation, but not exactly terror, because there's a haunting druid-like beauty within these moody sound-scapes & also a strong sense of nature, all concealed, out there in the gloom, hiding within the shadowy folds of a dusky aural wilderness. There's something darkly spiritual swirling around these pieces, underpinning the enveloping shrouds of sombre drift with a subtle air of longing & some kind of meditative peace. I like this sinister yet intoxicating brew - it really takes me someplace special because despite the eerie crackle, creaking & glitch that appears sporadically throughout, I feel like I'm in the realm of non-harmful spirits here. Doesn't stop the palpitations though!

1. Saito Koji Ocean SEM

2. Yui Onodera & Celer Generic City Two Acorns

3. Shaula Non_rem_sleeps Somehow

4. Tomas Phillips & Marihiko Hara Prosa Tench

5. Taishi Kamiya Spectra Of Air Home Normal

6. Sleptis Strie Soundscaping

7. Clem Leek Holly Lane Hibernate

8. Nils Frahm & Anne Muller 7fingers Hush

9. Hiroki Sasajima Suikinkutsu 3leaves

10. Talvihorros Music In Four Movements Hibernate

11. Celer Dying Star Dragons Eye

12. Chihei Hatakeyama Ghostly Garden Own

13. M. Ostermeier Chance Reconstruction Tench

14. Tomas Phillips Quartet For Instruments Humming Conch

15. Alessio Ballerini me And Somehow

16. Listening Mirror After The Briefest Of Pauses Rural Colour

17. Nobuto Suda Bloom Tobira

18. Nicolas Bernier The Dancing Deer EP Home Normal

19. Jannik Schou Night Under The Spire

20. Padang Food Tigers Go Down Moses Under The Spire

Difficult, really difficult. But here we are, probably so many more that are not here.

~Somehow Recordings Top 20 For 2010~

Reviews 2010