Presenting ... The Emporium Project - 1point1 (waag_rel123) by Cousin Silas & Friends

Coming in at just over two hours long (two hours and nine minutes to be precise) is the first part of the first "The Emporium Project" ... a collection of collaborations that span multiple genres but hold true to their central, uniting force ... Cousin Silas.

On 1.1, Cousin Silas & his Friends bring to the table: longform ambient and unique sounds inspired by ska ... atmospheric soundscapes that use field recordings and tracks that feel like they were recorded in an out-of-the-way Blues club ... dark ambient eeriness and more percussive sounds. It is, without doubt, a varied set, one that will appeal to the curious and the adventurous in equal measure.

As mentioned above, this is the first part of the first Emporium Project ... you can expect four more parts in the coming days and weeks ... roughly ten hours in total and plenty to keep you occupied in the dark days of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere).

As before, we will use this series as an opportunity to give a little back to our wider community. All monies raised from the sale of this album will be donated to Hospice UK. I am both fortunate and grateful to work for an employer who actively matches all donations made ... so every purchase will be doubled for the benefit of a very worthy cause.

I really do hope you will enjoy this album as much as I have.

- Thomas

Please Note: due to the fundraising aspect of this album, it will not be added to our collection over at archive.org.

The Fortean Project (waag_rel122) by Cousin Silas & Kevin Lyons

Cousin Silas and Kevin Lyons do it again. With "The Fortean Project (waag_rel122)" they have created another album of dark and atmospheric soundscapes, an album that will soundtrack your wildest Cyclopean nightmares and provide aural accompaniment for your weirdest of unexplainable experiences.

The sounds presented here are deliciously dark and seriously spooky, they have a vibrancy that fans of dark ambient will totally get. I, for one, love them and have spoken before about my fondness for reading HP Lovecraft whilst listening to music of this ilk.

And it is reading that has inspired both Silas and Lyons, reading of the Fortean Times, a British monthly magazine devoted to what is called "anomalous phenomena" on their Wikipedia page. Whilst I am not a reader myself, I can testify to Cousin Silas' love of the publication: he's always talking about it and, when I visit him, he always has a couple of copies lying about. He gets his inspiration from this monthly and I get inspired by him ... and I hope you do too?

As before, my thanks goes to the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support.

A 320kbps version of this release will be available, for free, over on Archive with a lossless version available here on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rel122

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Presenting ... Sacred Space (waag_rel121) by Cousin Silas & Kevin Buckland

Of all the music Cousin Silas has released, especially on weareallghosts, I am fondest of his longform pieces. I find his Dronescapes especially fascinating because they have a versatility about them: I listen to them at work when I need to find my flow and block out a busy, open-plan office; I listen to them on the train when I want to dig into a book and block out a busy carriage; I listen to them when I need to rest and block out the busyness of my home and/or my brain; They work for me on a number of levels but, in each occasion, the intention is to escape, to block out, to evade the noise that surrounds me, that could so easily envelop me, if I allowed it to. To me these soundscapes are sacred spaces ... places I can retreat to, my sonic safe-house, so to speak.

It is with this in mind that I approach this appropriately titled collaboration between Cousin Silas and a new entrant to the waag roster, Kevin Buckland. "Sacred Spaces (waag_rel121)" is a series of ambient pieces that provide a place to retreat to ... a place to be alone and to rest and to consider. Pieces that provide respite from the 24-7 always-on culture that appears to pervade every element of our very being.

The collaboration of Cousin Silas' wide-open guitar and Kevin Buckland's equally spacious ambience creates the most wonderful of welcoming soundscapes ... unhurried & unforced, these are pieces for the soul as well as the ears, meditative pieces for taking precious time out, however it is that you do that.

As before, my thanks goes to the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support.

A 320kbps version of this release will be available, for free, on Archive with a lossless version available over on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rel121c

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Presenting ... Flux (waag_rel120) by Matthew VandenBrook

I have a real fondness for Matthew VandenBrook and his uniquely particular (and particularly unique) version of experimental electronic music.

He pushes boundaries and, at times, challenges me within his prolific expressions ... often leaving me perplexed until (as much through exposure as epiphany) the lightbulb comes on and I get to see (hear) his music through his eyes (ears). "Flux" is such an album.

I cannot begin to describe the sounds featured on "Flux", it truly has to be heard ... to be experienced ... to be worn in. What I will say, however, is that "Flux" is most definitely in keeping with the rest of his body of work and I am proud to present it on weareallghosts.

As before, my thanks goes to the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support.

A 320kbps version of this release will be available, for free, over on Archive with a lossless version available here on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rel120

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Presenting ... The Pleiades and other Astral Overtones (waag_rel119) by George L Smyth

Image: "Pink Pleiades" by NASA / JPL-Caltech - PIA09262

After the warm reception of "Winterfylleth (waag_rel111)", I was eager to work with George L Smyth again and was delighted when he submitted this five-track album that was inspired by the heavenly bodies that easily define our concept of space: we look up in the night sky and can see the Bears or Orion's Belt, and in doing so we dream of what it would be like to be there.

Space has always captured our imagination as humans ... the pioneering spirit of adventure, the unspoilt beauty and the unforgiving environment, that otherness that we so desperately seek ... enhanced by the wonderful imagery produced by the likes of NASA and the futuristic vision of our favourite sci-fi writers and illustrators.

And it is with this inspiration that George L Smyth has created such a wonderful album. "The Pleiades and other Astral Overtones (waag_rel119)" is a fitting addition to the weareallghosts body of work and to Smyth's canon too, an hour or so of the most delightful escapism where the listener is transported to the very bodies the tracks are titled after.

This is truly music of the spheres ... of the constellations ... of the planets and moons above and around us. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.

As before, my thanks goes to Cousin Silas, Kevin Lyons & Tim Jones, and to Warren Daly … Adrian Nicholls ... Drew Miller ... and the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support. 

A 320kbps version of this release will be available, for free, over on Archive with a lossless version available here on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rel119

Presenting ... "Twang 002 (waag_rrl008)" by Cousin Silas

Here we go again with another selection of one-take guitar improvs on weareallghosts from Cousin Silas ... along with a couple of bonus tracks.

As before: no edits ... no overdubs. Just one man and his extensive collection of guitars ... pushing the boundaries of atmospheric sound.

Twang Two ... or Twang! Too ... or waag_rrl008 ... however you want to call it deserves another listen. It didn't deserve to be abandoned as it was and I, for one, am glad to give it a home on waag, albeit slightly later than initial envisaged back at the start of the year.

This is the Silas I utterly adore, the atmospheric Silas who provides the soundtrack to my Ballardian daydreams and my Lovecraftian nightmares. The soundscapes presented on this second Twang! collection are entrancing and utterly enthralling, moments of exceptional otherness that transcend the everyday.

As before, my thanks goes to Cousin Silas, Kevin Lyons & Tim Jones, and to Warren Daly … Adrian Nicholls ... Drew Miller ... and the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support.
A 320kbps version of this release is available, for free, over on Archive with a lossless version available on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

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Please Note: photography by Glenn Sogge, used with permission.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rrl008

Presenting ... "Live at Vista (waag_rel118)" by Eraser Ears

I am a huge fan of the mid-seventies Tangerine Dream albums such as Phaedra and Rubycon. I love their sprawling nature and the twists and turns that these recordings take.

I am also a big fan of the music of REDSHIFT. Albums like Ether and Halo have left an indelible mark on me. Again, I just adore their sprawling, apparently improvised soundscapes.

It is in this context that I came to "Live at Vista" by Eraser Ears, a project involving Jaime Munárriz, a chap I've known for a wee while now. I almost immediately fell for the improvised nature of this recording and wished, as I continue to do for Tangerine Dream and REDSHIFT, to have been there ... in the crowd ... soaking up the sounds as they were presented in real time.

There is something truly magical about the music presented here ... I could imagine myself standing beside David Toop in some redefined space in Berlin listening as it was presented, simply honoured to be there for the performance.

Alas I couldn't be at Vista and I don't know if Toop was in the crowd or not (imagine if he was?!?!) but what I do know is that I have the next best thing ... a slightly edited / mastered version of the soundscapes presented that day that does stand in comparison with some true heavyweights of the ambient genre.

I am proud to bring this to the waag community and, hopefully, further afield.

As before, my thanks goes to Cousin Silas, Kevin Lyons & Tim Jones, and to Warren Daly … Adrian Nicholls ... Drew Miller ... and the wonderful waag community ... for their generous support.
A 320kbps version of this release will be available, for free, over on Archive with a lossless version available on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

Enjoy.

Thomas

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Music performed by David Llorente, Richi F. Martin, Tino Varela, Miguel Oliveros, and Jaime Munárriz aka Eraser Ears.

Eraser Ears is a project of LiSD/Codelab, the image and sound experimental laboratory directed by Jaime Munárriz, based at the Fine Arts faculty, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

The album was recorded live at Vista for the art festival ArtBanchel 18 in Madrid, Spain.

The recording was edited to remove / correct minor errors and then mastered.

The performance, conceived as a permanent static art piece for Vista, a workspace for visual artists; involved different hacked electro-mechanical artefacts with piezos, analog synthesisers and effects, digital instruments and processed subtle percussion instruments (foam, pipes, and the infamous Orbitator). It went on for three hours, non-stop ... the audience could get in, move around, come back.

Artwork by Jaime Munárriz.

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https://archive.org/details/waag_rel118

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