Presenting ... Dronescape 035 (waag_drs035) by Cousin Silas

As we move into 2017 I would like to give you a taste of things to come from weareallghosts … coming up over the next few days we’ll have a remix album from Cousin Silas, an expressive release from Matthew VandenBrook, a retrospective of the musician Chris Newman aka Delicate Apparatus, and a rereleased album from Coloured Lines. We also have this, the 35th dronescape from Cousin Silas.

Cousin Silas has promised 50 dronescapes and 2017 will see us get closer to that goal … a bittersweet goal, if truth be told, because I love his longform work and am proud to provide a home for the dronescape series.

As for the 35th dronescape, it is an utter delight … words do not do its 75 minutes justice … so I’m going to stop and ask you to have a listen. Today is New Year’s Eve (or Hogmanay in Scotland) and it is a busy time. This dronescape provides respite from this busyness … it gives you, the listener, some well earned time out. Take it and make of it what you will, what you need, and may your 2017 be awesome.

As before, it is important to note that weareallghosts is funded through the money we receive for albums and dronescapes such as this. For us to realistically continue to put out this level of quality in the quantity that we need to levy a small charge for our releases. Please help out by buying the dronescape.

That said, if you aren’t able to then please note a 320kbps version of this release will be available over on Archive for free.

- Thomas

https://archive.org/details/waag_drs035

Presenting ... Rex Gentium (waag_aa003) by Scott Lawlor ... Ambient Advent 2016

Over the last couple of years we’ve feature a series of ambient pieces inspired by and intended for the period of Advent … four pieces for the four Sundays in the month or so before Christmas. This year it was Scott Lawyer’s turn but, due to work and other externalities outwith my control, I was unable to upload before now.

Scott’s four pieces were recorded live when he played them, just over a year ago, on stillstream.fm. They are quietly meditative longform pieces that infuse the listener with the most delightful of fragrances, nothing overpowering, just an engaging and, dare I say, entertaining experience that can be instilled with a spiritual significance, like a gentle incense, if that’s your thing.

- Thomas

Waiting is not the strong suit of many of us in our hurry-up culture. Everything is urgent. Hope is foreign to people who expect quick relief, cures, and solutions. We struggle to guard Advent jealously because popular culture short-circuits this season of hope: We are tempted to go directly to celebrating Christmas without getting in touch with the part of ourselves that is longing, hoping, and trusting.

The following pieces, written and performed last year on stillstream.fm, are intended to help with your wait, help you take your foot off the accelerator and just be. Christmas Day will come, just don’t let it come too quickly.

- Scott

Thanks to the support of Cousin Silas and Warren Daly … and the wonderful waag community ... I’m proud to be able to offer a 320kbps version of this release for free over on Archive with a lossless version available on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

Enjoy.

https://archive.org/details/waag-aa003

Presenting ... The Three Imposters (waag_rel093) by Cousin Silas | Tim Jones | Kevin Lyons

Arthur Machen, the Welsh author of the 1890s and early 20th century, is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy and horror fiction. Machen’s most famous work - The Great God Pan - is new to me but is the source of inspiration for Cousin Silas, Tim Jones & Kevin Lyons along with the series of short stories that their latest album is named after, The Three Imposters.

According to Wikipedia, The Three Imposters incorporates several inset weird tales and culminates in a final denouement of deadly horror, connected with a secret society devoted to debauched pagan rites. The three impostors of the title are members of this society who weave a web of deception in the streets of London —relating the aforementioned weird tales in the process—as they search for a missing Roman coin.

It is a book that I yet to read but I am inspired to do so because of it’s impact on Silas, Jones & Lyons; who have taken this impact and created the most wondrous of experimental ambient music. Starting and finishing with a refrain played on a hurdy-gurdy - a sound that sends chills down my spine each and every time I hear it - The Three Imposters is as deliciously dark as the richest of chocolate, as engaging and almost as fattening.

The music featured on The Three Imposters was created during a week together earlier this year. I had the privilege of joining the trio for an overnight. The closest they got to debauchery - while I was there - was watching old horror films (one of which provided the hurdy-gurdy refrain), drinking too much coffee and eating pizza. Whilst I cannot vouch for what happened when I wasn’t there, I’m glad they were inspired by Machen in such a way as to create such a delightful selection of electronic ambience.

Thanks to the support of Cousin Silas and Warren Daly … and the wonderful waag community ... I’m proud to be able to offer a 320kbps version of this release for free over on Archive with a lossless version available on Bandcamp for ‘pay what you want’.

Enjoy.

Thomas

https://archive.org/details/waag_rel093

Presenting ... Spiralling Continuum (waag_rel092) by Warren Daly

A luminous concept, warmer than my previous ambient compositions, I wish to evoke a sense of space travel, transcendental meditation, and spatial imagery.

I was heavily influenced by these fine releases:
- William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops
- Miles Davis - In A Silent Way
- Ebauche - Adrift
- Pink Floyd - BBC Archives 1974 (Dark Side of The Moon live SBD)

"Letting the last breath come.
Letting the last breath go.
Dissolving, dissolving into vast space,
the light body released from its heavier form.
A sense of connectedness with all that is,
all sense of separation dissolved
in the vastness of being.
Each breath melting into space
as though it were the last."
(Stephen Levine)

Massive thanks to:
- Alex Leonard and Donn Maguire for their constant encouragement, and without their generous contributions of hardware creating these compositions would not have been possible.
- Dina Chhan for reinforcing my resolve.
- Hal FX for his continued support and inspiration.
- Donard McCabe for his everlasting friendship.
- Thomas Mathie for his enthusiasm, energy, and releasing my creations on WAAG.

- Warren

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I am delighted to welcome Warren Daly to the waag family, someone who knows his ambient electronic music. Daly's own label - Invisible Agent - was one of the inspirations when starting waag and his ongoing encouragement has really buoyed me through some tough times.

This four-track EP is an utter delight: it features two more melodic tracks and two more atmospheric tracks that all work together to make something beautiful.

Welcome Warren!

- Thomas

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Please Note:
- Download includes the video for Spiralling Continuum (in .mov format).
- This EP will not be uploaded to Archive.

Presenting ... Dronescape 034 (waag_drs034) by Cousin Silas

Cousin Silas’ 34th dronescape is another exceptional longform ambient soundscape. At 1 second under 73 minutes, it is an epic piece of ambience … one the draws you in and encourages to take a trip of profound personal discovery. Where it will take you, I don’t know … but it takes me to a place where I am truly present, providing me with focus for the here and now, helping me find my flow.

Dronescape 034 drowns out the distractions of a very busy, demanding world … and let’s me just be in the moment, whether it is as an accompaniment for a book or as a background to work; it also works very well on its own as a focal piece or as an aide to relaxation, softly lulling me to a restful state.

I can’t get enough of this and the other dronescapes in Cousin Silas’ body of work here at weareallghosts … and I commend 34 to you, it really is something beautiful indeed.

As before, it is important to note that weareallghosts is funded through the money we receive for albums and dronescapes such as this. For us to realistically continue to put out this level of quality in the quantity that we need to levy a small charge for our releases. Please help out by buying the dronescape.

That said, if you aren’t able to then please note a 320kbps version of this release will be available over on Archive for free.

- Thomas

https://archive.org/details/waag_drs034

Presenting ... "Berlin Evenings (waag_CDr004)" by Cousin Silas

The only thing you can be sure of when you dive into a Cousin Silas release is that you won't always know what to expect. Over the course of fifteen years and close to 100 releases Silas has established himself as the master of modern ambient music. Each album has a flavour and sound all its own and now here he is with his first album length exploration of the "Berlin school" of electronic music. He's dabbled before of course on tracks here and there, but here he dives head first into this most enduring and beloved form of electronica with a stunning collection of pieces built around the characteristic pulsating sequencers, lush Mellotron-inspired pads, authentically retro-sounding leads and of course flashes of that familiar Silas guitar.

What impresses the most here - as it does with all Silas releases - is the breadth of the material on offer. One might expect that, having chosen to focus on one sub-set of electronic music, Silas would have restricted his sonic palette, narrowed his vision, but not a bit of it. This is no slavish pastiche, no simple wallow in nostalgia. This is, as ever with the music of Cousin Silas, vital, uplifting and inspiring music that offers endless rewards with each subsequent play.

- Kevin Lyons, 2016

My sincere thanks to everyone who has supported this journey:
To Tim, Lutz, & Kevin ... it takes a village and we're so glad you reside in ours! To the waag family who have kept us going ... thank you!!! And to Dave ... thanks for your faith in me.

- Thomas Mathie, 2016

Credits
Music by Cousin Silas
Mastering (Tracks 1 - 9) by Tim Jones for Stone Premonition
Photograph by Lutz Thuns, with grateful thanks
Liner Notes by Kevin Lyons
Design by Thomas Mathie for weareallghosts.co.uk
CD Production by promodiscs.co.uk

Presenting ... "Dronescape 033 (waag_drs033)" by Cousin Silas

It has been a wee while since we had a dronescape from Cousin Silas, partly because he’s been so busy releasing collaborations and albums on other netlabels.

I’ve spoken before about my excitement when I get a dropbox link sent to me … I guess I’m as big a fan as anyone of Dave’s work and still get the feels when I hear a new dronescape from him.

Dronescape 033 is an absolute delight: it is the kind of music you want to hear of an lazy Sunday afternoon or a warm bubblebath, music that lets you switch off and drift away to wherever it is you drift off to. It is wonderfully unhurried, deep and engaging, you cannot fail to relax when this is on. It certainly works for me.

It is important to note that weareallghosts is funded through the money we receive for albums and dronescapes such as this. For us to realistically continue to put out this level of quality in the quantity that we need to levy a small charge for our releases. Please help out by buying the dronescape.

That said, if you aren’t able to then please note a 320kbps version of this release will be available over on Archive for free.

- Thomas

https://archive.org/details/waag_drs033