Biosphere

Biosphere

Track Listings

1. Hellrider

2. Biosphere

3. Savior

4. My Precious

5. Wind From Tibet

6. System Crush

7. The Night Is Still Young

8. Shame On You

9. Break My Mind

10. So Beautiful

11. For You

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
2002 album for the recently reunited Japanese heavy metal heroes. 11 tracks including 'Hellrider' & 'Wind From Tibet'. Tokuma Japan Communications.

Tracks:

Dissolving Clouds
Birds Bly by Flapping Their Wings
Warmed by the Drift
In Triple Time
From a Solid to a Liquid
Arafura
Fall in, Fall Out
Daphnis 26
Altostratus
Sherbrooke
People Are Friends

Album Description

Biosphere is Norwegian composer Geir Jenssen and this is his fifth release for Touch. He is considered a pioneer of ambient techno, but unlike previous releases, this album has more of a jazz feel - the jazz of Miles Davis or Jon Hassell. A hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread. Touch. 2005.

Customer Reviews:

still going strong.......2007-06-11

Although not as ground breaking as their previous works, this album is still eons ahead of its competition. The track 'Warmed by the Drift' is an absolute gem, i can't stop listening to it.

JAMES KNAPMAN's igloomag.com REVIEW ::.......2006-08-19

JAMES KNAPMAN's igloomag.com REVIEW ::

(08.18.06) Subject to a confused and confusing release pattern, the new full length release by Biosphere arrived not a moment too soon, only to prove a crushing disappointment. Originally released in the latter half of 2005 as a six track mini LP, the CD version didn't emerge until February 2006. It expanded the album to eleven tracks and excluded "In the Shape of a Flute" that remains exclusive to the LP version. One can only guess why it should be released in this haphazard fashion, but it has done the album no favors at all.

All of this apparent randomness wouldn't be so bad if the material here was really top notch but sadly it's patchy and mediocre. The LP release is disappointing, the CD doubly so since it demands more than twice the amount of your time and delivers little extra. It would be churlish to expect more of the same from a new Biosphere album, especially since Jenssen has already delivered several releases that have been quite deliberately different from his previous, arctic works. On this occasion he has elected to throw a jazz twist into his ambient soundscapes, but this manifests itself as little more than simple jazz riffs or drums looped over field recordings for about six and a half minutes at a time. Obviously the jazz elements have been constructed in this way in order to tailor them to suite Biosphere's now trademark looped ambient/drone style, but it painfully misses the point of jazz music in the first place: there's no spirit of improvisation, no emotion, no soul and to add insult to injury, there's scant little atmosphere in many of the pieces.

Dropsonde kicks off promisingly enough, the hissing of "Dissolving Clouds" acting as a backdrop to gentle and discreet electronic chimes before giving way to "Birds Fly By Flapping Their Wings," one of the few tracks that possesses a sufficient level of atmosphere and depth to maintain interest and enjoyment for its entire duration. The looped sound of whistling winds is combined with dusty, smoky hi-hat drum arrangements, gentle pulsing synths and wowing, nervous pads. But it's mostly downhill from here: "Warmed by the Drift" sounds exactly like Geogaddi era Boards of Canada, but lacks the same spirit of nostalgia, and it lingers for too long; "In Triple Time" sounds like a Cirque cast-off, and doesn't seem to quite fit the album; "From a Solid to a Liquid" and "Arafura" seem to be designed to test the patience - the former containing more hissing undertones and chiming synths, the latter consisting of a muddy and listless looped melody that drags on and on and on over a warm and rich backdrop of washes; and "Fall in Fall Out" is a spectral mass of vinyl crackle, baton-twirling percussion and yet more chiming, which is apparently supposed to engage the listener for over seven minutes.

"Sherbrooke," on the other hand, is a wonderfully fresh, breezy mix of error-ridden ambient whirls and jammed, distorted hi-hat loops. The closing piece - the ten minute "People Are Friends" - is frustrating: a stunningly atmospheric background drone (that is subsequently joined by cut up spoken word samples) is almost spoiled by the inclusion of a rather whiney and monotonous synth part that meanders randomly, and then the piece abruptly cuts off, ending the album.

There are some genuinely exquisite pieces on Dropsonde, "Sherbrooke" and "Birds Fly by Flapping Their Wings" included, but they are crushed under the weight of an obese collection of bores that represent the product of an artist who no longer seems able to edit himself ruthlessly enough to create a truly engaging whole.

< < igloomag.com >>

How to outlive your own talent?.......2006-06-26

Biosphere's Geir Jenssen didn't make it very easy on himself. With his groundbreaking album "Substrata", the perfect ode to the Northern ice landscape, he created the ultimate ambient record. So what to do next?

For "Cirque" (2000) Jenssen went back a little in time, in the years that he made ambient records with a lot of beat and rhythm. (Namely "Patashnik" and "Microgravity"). Jenssen combined the soundscapes and sampled voices from "Substrata" with the "beats, percussions and rhythms from the past".
The result is difficult to describe. It isn't magic time as it was with "Substrata", that's for sure, but it stil is Biosphere, and that does guarantee us a certain quality.
One could perhaps say that beceause of this blend of rhythm and vast ambient scapes, it's a little more accessible than "Substrata".
Maybe "Cirque" is just "Biosphere for beginners".

Biosphere's next project was "Shenzhou" (2002), which excelled in the lack of rhythms and experimental sound samples. Jenssen's music was here even more introverted than before, almost creating a soundtrack to the vast expanse of the universe.
As eerie as it is beautiful, this album seems to be nihilistic in its output but is in fact multi-layered to people with a keen ear for detail.
At least one could say about "Cirque" and "Shenzhou" is that Biosphere didn't really try to repeat the unrepeatable by making a second "Substrata". These two albums are more rather moodful variations on his talent.

The real disappointment was "Au tour de la lune", a record that almost literaly didn't stand on solide gorund. No surprises, no reprises, too nihilistic, too much air, too much of nothing really. An "ode to the empty void" more likely, and an album quickly to forget.

Between all solo acts, Biosphere succesfully collaborated with other acts like Deathprod (resulting in the quiet "Nordheim transfromed"), Tom Opdhal (Jenssen was producer of his album "Black smoker") and Higher Intelligence Agency (resulting in the awesome dubble bill "Polar Sequences" and "Birmingham Frequencies")

But now, in 2006, Biosphere is back on his own with "Dropsonde".
Fans were still excited. Would Biosphere strike back hard and come back with another unequalled album? What kind of variation on his "Songs of the Northern Iceworld" would he bring us now?
Well, fans and enemies were surprised when information leaked out, stating that jazz was to be Geir Jenssen's main source of inspiration.

Soft, fluid ambient sounds start to stream out of our stereo equipment as soon as we start the record. There is a buzzing, fuzzing back ground noise. Almost liquid bell tones follow. Then cymbal-like percussion joins in. Tempo alters. Mood sets in. And the listener slowly starts to realize that maybe, just maybe, he is hearing the first two, three tracks of the Biosphere album that can come very close to the classic "Substrata".
And when we hear water flowing through track 5, another reminiscence to "Substrata", we know that Biosphere is more alive than ever.

And the only question remains: what will this guy come up next with? But it is an exciting question we have often asked ourselves when it came to Geir Jenssen.
And most answers were more than great.

Biosphere goes Jazz.......2006-02-22

So it's the latest effort of Geir Jensen. Totally different from he's last Album " Autour De La Lune " which was REALLY minimalistic drone based album. On dropsonde ( EP ) Geir uses jazzy old sounding beats and lovely soft melodies. Once again he change's he's style and that's what i like about him.. If you are a biosphere fan, you got to check out this ! if you are new to biosphere, try first " Substrata " or Shenzhou "

Average customer rating:

Introspective
Creeping Bass Drone Tones
OMFG WUT IZ DIS?!?
drones from deep space

Autour de la Lune
Biosphere
Manufacturer: Touch UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Dropsonde
Shenzhou
Nordheim Transformed
Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid
Avec Laudenum

ASIN: B0002BPIDG
Release Date: 2005-01-24

Tracks:

Translation
Rotation
Modifi
Vibratoire
Dation
Circulaire
Disparu
Inverse
Tombant

Customer Reviews:

Introspective.......2006-04-01

"Autour de la Lune" is Biosphere's most introspective, minimal and beautiful release to date. This is an immensely enjoyable, highly accomplished minimal/drone/ambient album, by any standards. Especially recommended to those who enjoy Bernhard Günter, David Sylvian's ambient music, and later recordings by Lull.

Creeping Bass Drone Tones.......2005-03-29

I don't say this pejoratively, but there isn't a great deal that can be said about Autour de la Lune. It's by far the most minimal work in the Biosphere catalogue; Geir has mined some seriously subterranean tones for this release. In fact, you might think on first listening that it's too minimal, but give it time. Sure, it doesn't have the 'personality' of a Substrata or a Cirque, but after repeated listening on a decent pair of headphones, each track will surrender its character: the unremitting, rumbling dirge of Deviation; Rotation's shrill chimes and subjacent warped drawlings; and the reviewer's favourite, Inverse, an accompaniment to foreboding that will always come to mind in the circumstance. As mentioned elsewhere, the album is inspired in part by Jules Verne's Voyages Extraordinaires. But Geir has also cited one of his hobbies--astronomy: "I had also bought a very good Russian telescope at that time. Studying the moon with this telescope also influenced the compositions considerably."

OMFG WUT IZ DIS?!?.......2004-11-13

I'll cut it to the bone here. I don't know what anyone's reaction to "Autour De La Lune" would be.
I doubt anyone but the sharp eared would notice something playing if you put on tracks 4,5, and 6 on low volume. Well, your dog would probably be urinating all over the floor from some of the barely audible high tones. If you had the volume up high, with considerable bass response, you'd probably vibrate the whole building and someone would call the proper authorities. The bass on "Deviation" is enough to probably crush the skull of Ashlee Simpson, if one were so inclined.
There's a complete lack of any catchy hook. Or beats. Nothing even remotely resembling a beat to be found. Or what most people would consider music.
But it's pretty much the best vision I've heard of space described in purely aural terms. The vastness and coldness is dwarfing. I can't give it 5 stars since I haven't been to space to very this (and some of it pushes my limits. "Translation" is nice, 22 minutes of it is too much).
I went out into the living room while this was playing. I turned on MTV2. Alicia Keys was doing something involving scraping the bottom of a barrel, and the bass tones from "Deviation" kept bleeding through the wall. Inevitably, I went back to listening to the same bass drone that kept me awake while listening to "Autour De La Lune", swallowed by just how remote this CD really is.

drones from deep space.......2004-07-22

With his wide body of work, Geir Jenssen worked his way up my list as one of the most consistent and creative artists working in the genre of ambient electronic music. He's collaborated with both Deathprod (reworking Arne Nordheim) and HIA (on two separate releases), and has still managed to release albums at a fairly steady rate.

Autour De La Lune is the newest effort from Biosphere and it's a release of massive proportions. 9 tracks clock in at almost 75 minutes and find Jenssen again moving in a different direction in terms of his sound. While some artists keep adding more layers to their palette, it seems that Biosphere is intent on slowly peeling back pieces of sound to reveal what's underneath. His masterful Shenzou was a stripped-down reworking of classical music that wass subtle and beautiful (and probably my favorite work of his), while this newest effort finds him at an even more minimal level.

Originally developed for a Radio France broadcast, the album is a mixture of sampled dialogue from an old Jules Verne (De La Terre A La Lune) broadcast, sounds recorded on the MIR space station, and the incorporation of original compositions. The opening track of "Translation" sets the stage at nearly 22 minutes, a super slowly-evolving piece that ripples sheets of low-end under high-end tones that palpitate with a slowly-increasing intensity before edging off again. Bits of broken dialogue slowly creep into following tracks while the same sort of sound palette again dominates. "Rotation" finds ultra-deep bass throbbing in the background while pinging tones bounce like transmissions from another system.

Listening to the release, it's hard not to imagine the exploration of space. It's a bit stark and austere, and while there is a touch of human element (the fragmented spoken samples), Autour De La Lune feels more like something you'd hear as your malfunctioning spacecraft slowly drifted out of the range of communications and into a great unknown void. In places it's downright creepy and in others it's oddly soothing, but this is definitely a different release for Jenssen. With only a very few subtle melodies creeping in (most notibly on the beautiful "Disparu"), this is a heady release that could easily be the soundtrack for either stargazing or an isolation tank. Don't listen to this one on crummy speakers, because you simply won't get the full effect. Team it up with Eno's Apollo and Into Forever by Manual & Icebreaker International for almost 3 hours of deep space listening.

(from almostcool music reviews)

Average customer rating:

Cirque
Biosphere
Manufacturer: Touch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Shenzhou
Autour de la Lune
Dropsonde
And Their Refinement of the Decline
Substrata 2

ASIN: B00004TFNB
Release Date: 2000-06-13

Tracks:

Nook and Cranny
Grand Dome
Grandiflora
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
Miniature Rock Dwellers
When I Leave
Iberia Eterea
Moistened and Dried
Algae and Fungi Pt. 1
Algae and Fungi Pt. 11
Too Fragile to Walk On

Album Description

Reissue of this classic album, originally released in 2000. Biosphere's music is an intimate reflection of the space and climate of Tromsö, Norway, but made universal. Adjectives like "glacial" and "remote" do no justice to the intense emotion of the music. Here, the shifting world of previous album Substrata is fused with the liquid electronic rhythms of Biosphere's earlier work in techno. The outcome is almost addictive -- layers of detail reveal themselves as you listen and appreciate the convergences deep within the music, between classical and pop. The music plays like a film, one scene dissolving into the next. Codas pinpoint the action like spotlights, and location recordings weave in and out of the sound giving it the dramatic tension of a great documentary. There is nothing old-fashioned, however, in the outcome. Cirque is future music. Cinema for the spirit. Touch. 2007.

Average customer rating:

Only 4 because it's short

Beyond the Biosphere
The Webb Brothers
Manufacturer: Wea International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

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The Webb Brothers

ASIN: B0000258GE
Release Date: 1999-08-23

Tracks:

Beyond The Biosphere
She Drifts Into My Room
Sour Grapes
Cold Fingers
What Have We Become
The Filth Of It All
Biosphere (reprise)
You Took It Wrong
Drink And Drown
Got No Worries
I'm Over And I Know It

Album Details

Their Debut 1999 Full Length. Essentially a Collection of their Demos Polished Up.the Twin Sons of Legendary Pop Songwriter Jimmy Webb.

Customer Reviews:

Only 4 because it's short.......2003-11-22

But worth every penny. An amazing album recorded on a shoestring budget, Biosphere is both spacey yet rocking, smart yet accessible. You have to hear it to believe it.

Also check out their album "Maroon," which was produced by Stephen Street (The Smiths, etc.)

Biosphere
Average customer rating:

Decent metal

Biosphere
Loudness
Manufacturer: Tokuma
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
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Terror

Spiritual Canoe: Rinne Tensei

Engine

Pandemonium

Jealousy/Slap in the Face

ASIN: B00006AM85
Release Date: 2002-09-23

Tracks:

Hellrider
Biosphere
Savior
My Precious
Wind From Tibet
System Crush
The Night Is Still Young
Shame On You
Break My Mind
So Beautiful
For You

Album Description

2002 album for the recently reunited Japanese heavy metal heroes. 11 tracks including 'Hellrider' & 'Wind From Tibet'. Tokuma Japan Communications.

Customer Reviews:

Decent metal.......2003-04-01

I am still a big fan of Loudness from the 80's and early 90's but this cd is probably the best since the original lineup got back together. All of the songs are good except for "hellrider'. Are we supposed to take this song literally? Does the band worship satan? Post 80's loudness I would recommend the self titled cd. Masaki has a great voice and has a much better handle on the english language than minoru. Basically these guys have seemed to thumb their noses at the US market, hence the outragous price but I still am a sucker for Akira's fretwork.

Average customer rating:

Light (Hazard, Fennesz, Biosphere)
Z'EV
Manufacturer: Touch UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Punk | Hardcore & Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Compilations | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00005KFVZ
Release Date: 1997-05-27

Tracks:

Forbuki
Book of Love Being Written as They Touched/As Is as/Instill/9 Feathers
Mountain Looked at the Mountain and Slipped Away to Sea - Stefan Weisser
Ok, Get Rid of That - Stefan Weisser
So
Bleedfat
Big Wave - T.O.
Sound of the Wind and Limb - Stefan Weisser
Live at the 'Fab Mab' [Live]
In the Compound
Radio Station KPFK
Shake, Rattle & Roll
First 30 Minutes
Metal Bizondere Plastik
Hottest Night
BRC
Lust/Unlust
Strange Girl
Flew Ting
Documenta
Light of Metal Sounding
Gronigen Mix
Under the Hammer #1

Tracks:

Short Wave
Pieces
Erlking
Beautiful Music
Lightning Music
Following in the Footsteps
Under the Hammer #2
Bel's
Words - Mother Tongue
Conches - Mother Tongue
Tattoo
Aldo's Bar
Says
Magneet for Organ and Bond
Boxes
Past 2 Days
Save the What?

Average customer rating:

Nordheim Transformed
Biosphere & Deathprod
Manufacturer: Rune Grammaphon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Dropsonde
Autour de la Lune
Shenzhou
Morals and Dogma
First Narrows

ASIN: B00002581F
Release Date: 2003-12-02

Tracks:

Trasparenza
Journey to the Centre of the First 1.1
Katedra Botaniki
Warp/Warble
Fleurs de Mai
Twin Decks
Journey to the Centre of the First 1.2

Average customer rating:

This One is Really Creepy! :O
Ambient music with a total sound experience
Seamless ambient
Great Intoduction to Ambient
Carefull where you buy this

Substrata 2
Biosphere
Manufacturer: Touch
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

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Dropsonde
76:14
Autour de la Lune
Cirque

ASIN: B00008BXFD
Release Date: 2003-09-22

Tracks:

As the Sun Kissed the Horizon
Poa Alpina
Chukung
Things I Tell You
Times When I Know You'll Be Said
Hyperborea
Kobresia
Antennaria
Uva-Ursi
Sphere of No-Form
Silene

Tracks:

Prologue
Silent Orchestra
City Wakes Up
Freeze-Frames
Manicure
Club
Ballerina
Eye of the Cyclone
Endurium

Customer Reviews:

This One is Really Creepy! :O.......2007-06-05

I realize I may get a few "unhepfuls" for this one, but...Substrata 2 is SO not like the original "Substrata" by Geir Jennsen. "Substrata 2" is so off the wall, like a Tool video taken to extreme, or Robert Rich's "Stalker" and Steve Roach's "Well of Souls." While some listeners may arbitrarily and automatically mark this type of ambience as genius per se, the fact is there is little redeeming quality to "Substrata 2." Bent pitches and creepy minor chords would make this a great Halloween backdrop for something, but definitely not as something to listen to while unwinding from a busy, stressful day. I look for something--anything--with a melody or harmony to it just for that purpose; otherwise, it can factually be called "noise."

All of my reviews are composed strictly without emotions, but fairly with regard only for their artistic merit. I don't listen to fifteen seconds of a disc or read two lines of a book and rush to review it. On the contrary, I give equal and sufficient time to prove worth. Instead of "Substrata 2", I highly recommend Freedom's "76:14" or Chuck Wild's Liquid Mind Series (although they are for the most part the same), or at the very least, Steve Roach's "Dreamtime Return" [1988]) or one of Tangerine Dreams older recordings ("Phaedra," "Stratosfear," "Rubycon", or perhaps "Tyranny of Beauty"). Melody and music structure are everything. Twisting knobs, bending pitches and twanging chords into something evil sounding is definitely not my idea of "music."

With ambience, electronica or abstract "new age" recordings, there is little middle ground. You either love it or you hate it. The only redeeming value I received from my purchase of "Substrata 2" is that the original remastered "Substrata" disc is included with it. That's really all I have to say about it, because at this point, "Substrata 2" left me with a huge void.

Ambient music with a total sound experience.......2007-05-26

The original Substrata by Biosphere was their first truly ambient album. The theme is Antarctica, imagining desolate plains of ice, snow-covered, windswept peaks and vicious crystalline glaciers. There are actual glacial sounds (creaks of ice) and wind in this stunning ambient, almost environmental album. It is great for relaxation and setting a mood as the music is hardly interrupted. The vocal sampling is from "Twin Peaks", the cult TV series by David Lynch.

This album is a remix of the orignal Substrata and includes a bonus cd of a soundtrack from "Man with a Camera", a Russian silent film.

The most interesting thing about this album is the environmental nature of the sound. A very soothing but sometimes unsettling experience. If you like Brian Eno and Harold Budd, this is less instrumental but just as mysterious sounding. I love listening to it in a darkened room or with an eyemask and headphones. Great for relaxation.

Seamless ambient.......2007-01-29

I have many ambient albums, starting with Brian Eno's releases and branching into more current artists. I discovered this album on Amazon and listened to song samples at another website. I was instantly hooked. The songs seamlessly morph together/apart and form some of the most interesting soundscapes I've had the pleasure to listen to. This ambient music doesn't put you in one place--it moves you in and out of spaces across the globe. I realize that doesn't quite describe it to the uninitiated, but just listen and try to figure out where you would hear this..and this..and that..

While purists would say the first CD (a remastered version of Substrata) is the better ambient album, I have to say I prefer the 2nd one. It has some of the same uttered phrases (one from the US TV show Twin Peaks!) it ends with two extra Japanese tracks that are ultimately danceable in a chillout way.

CD1 is 58-1/2 minutes; CD2 is 53-1/2 minutes. I easily could have handled an additional 20 minutes on both! You won't be sorry, this is excellent stuff.

Great Intoduction to Ambient.......2006-08-08

This is widely regarded as the "must have". And I agree it is, a perfect blend. Track 8 and up are what did it for me.

As said this is a re-release, and you do get a bonus CD, which I am listening to now, and it ALSO is wonderful!

If you have the original, and want to get the new CD, if you find it cheap get it, if you don't have the original , then I cannot stress enough how good this CD is.

GET IT. That being said, don't get ripped off either, I found it fairly cheap on Ebay for only 15.99 + shipping (used)

Jim

Carefull where you buy this.......2006-05-16

Excellent album.

I noticed that there are several copies for sale on this site starting at $40. Yesterday (05/14/06) I bought a new copy at Amoeba Music in Hollywood for $17, and they had at least three more. So look around, you might find a copy at a normal price.

Average customer rating:

some Erie stuff

Discrete Carbon
Dwight Ashley
Manufacturer: Nepenthe Music and Publishing
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ambient | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Electronica | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | New Age | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00026S374
Release Date: 2004-06-22

Tracks:

Eightfold Way
It Happened in November
Katalepsis
I Thought It Was There
Three Insects
Denial
Colossus Succumbs
Eat Me, Drink Me
Examined by Tweezers
Carbon

Product Description

A journey into the dark infinity of inner space, Dwight Ashleys premiere solo recording is an aural world rich in paradox and contradiction. Ashley characterizes his work as experimental and in fact, the release of the album is itself something of an experiment. Remarking on the body of his work over the past two decades, Ashley muses in the liner notes to his album, I sometimes questioned whether it truly qualified as music. Discrete Carbon asks the listener for a verdict and in so doing, demands a rethinking of exactly what music is, does, and ultimately, means to the listener.

Customer Reviews:

some Erie stuff.......2005-03-11

I recently received two cds by Dwight Ashley, this collection of stuff from 1999 and 2003 and the more recent Four with compositions from 2003/4. Erie, I say, cuz it's from Toledo, Ohio, on the shores of that Lake of same name. Now, place doesn't always count for much, I realize. But, if we are what we eat, then I think we sound like what we hear.

These ambient pieces sound like winter to me. (Course, I received them here in Reno in the midst of an hundred-year snow storm...) Track 3 "katalepsis" shimmers like an ice sculpture in the dark. Track 9 "examined by tweezers" seems a meditation on the modulation of sound passing thru an "empty" medium (the atmosphere perhaps, or maybe one's home as one works with the stereo on in the background).

Musically, I am reminded of the music of Jeff Grienke and of ambient Eno of the Discreet Music period. There is some happy piano music on a hidden track 15 reminding me somewhat of the happy piano music on Aphex Twin's "drukqs." Of the two cds, I think I like Four the best because of its darker edge.