JIMMY BEHAN
The Echo Garden
AB020
Audiobulb Records 2009
10 Tracks. 44mins16secs

CD: Amazon UK | Download: Amazon UK | iTunes | Boomkat

Irish sound artist Jimmy Behan first appeared in 2001 with an EP released on Kin Recordings and a split single with Connectfour Orchestra on Road Relish, but it is with his debut album, Days Are What We Live In, released three years later, that he first got the chance to fully showcase his sound, bringing together acoustic instruments, found sounds and electronic treatments to create evocative sonic vignettes. Five years and a couple of EPs later, Behan returns, this time on the excellent Audiobulb, with The Echo Garden, his second full-length. Continue Reading »

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Birmingham Sound Matter
AB023
Audiobulb Records 2009
08 Tracks. 65mins53secs

Download: iTunes | Juno | Boomkat

Over fifty years ago, French composer Pierre Schaeffer, the father of musique concrète, described sound recording as ‘objet sonore’, suggesting that, while documenting a sonic event, it is also one. This is very much the philosophy behind the Sound Matter series of projects orchestrated by Spanish sound artist Francisco López. After Brussels in 2004, Montreal in 2006 and Victoriaville in 2007, López was invited to come to Birmingham and gather a handful of regional sound artists.

The concept behind the Sound Matter projects is pretty simple. Get a few sound artists together, send them to collect sounds from a particular city, let them process them as they see fit. These two sound pools are then a common platform for each of the artists involved to create their own work. Continue Reading »

ULTRE
The Nest And The Skull
AB018
Audiobulb Records 2009
13 Tracks. 43mins41secs

Buy: CD | MP3 | iTunes

It would be easy to dismiss Finn McNicholas, the man being Ultre, as just another soldier of the folktronica army. While his music certainly feeds on acoustic, electric and electronic instrumentation, McNicholas is something of an all-rounder, busying himself with making music not just for himself, but also to serve as soundtrack for films, and regularly ventures into various visual art forms.

The Nest And The Skull follows a first album, All The Darkness Has Gone To Details, released in 2006 on the excellent Sheffiled-based Audiobulb, a record which quietly established Ultre as an artist to watch. Continue Reading »

HE CAN JOG
Middlemarch
AB017
Aubiobulb Records 2008
09 Tracks. 43mins06secs

The strangely named He Can Jog is one of the many projects of Brooklyn-based sound artist Erik Schoster who focuses primarily on textural sound explorations. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Schoster spent his formative years studying composition and improvisations. In the last four years, he has released a handful of MP3 EPs and his work has also been featured on a few compilations, including on no less than four from Sheffield’s excellent Audiobulb, which have been nurturing his talent for some time. It is therefore only fair that they got to release Middlemarch, the follow up to his debut album, New Ground Has Not Broken, Soil Last Week And Dirt Today, released in 2004. Continue Reading »

VARIOUS ARTISTS
1 | Favourite Places
AB016
Audiobulb Records 2008
10Tracks. 54mins04secs

A foray into the psychological swamp of today’s practitioners of experimental electronica, the simple though direct and ultimately telling quality of the question that underlies this compilation shines through the ensuing compositions like light through a stained glass window. “What is your favorite place in the world?” the label asks and Aaron Ximm, Taylor Deupree, Biosphere, and Leafcutter John, amongst others, are those who give voice to their private sentiments on the matter.

Apart from the aural evidence provided, each artist scrawls a brief gambit concerning their selection, where the sounds are protruding from and why it seems pertinent. It is pulled off with poise and a certain sense of importance, and this makes it something in which investments can be made, won, and lost, rather than something that asks for little and is content to be thumbed through casually. Continue Reading »

CALIKA
The Bright Spot
BEN518
Benbecula Records 2006
09 Tracks. 47mins50secs

The excellent Benbecula imprint, home of Christ., Prhizzm and Reverbaphon to name but a few, has been putting out some rather interesting ultra-limited CDRs in its Mineral Series. Now in its second batch of releases, the Mineral Series came out of a desire from the label to get back to its roots and publish homemade records.

Joining the ranks is Calika’s Simon Kealoha, who was recently spotted on Audiobulb with his excellent debut album, Small Talk Kills Me, and alongside former Seefeel mastermind Mark Clifford on Running Taper (Polyfusia). The Bright Spot continues where Small Talk Kills Me left off, as Kealoha combines acoustic and electric instrumentation with sharp electronic treatment, yet this new offering also sees the man exploring a wider musical scope. Continue Reading »