Parhelion the solo vehicle of Tunturia guitarist Ihor Diawdiuk is the result of many hours spent in the recording studio experimenting with various musical concepts. The inspiration for this endeavor was indirectly sparked by an idea Ihor was developing for his band Tunturia and which has since morphed into this side-project. His goal is the musical exploration of solipsism syndrome, specifically dealing with how environment is conducive to state of mind, with a specific interest towards the Arctic region. This, in turn, has grown into a fascination with investigating the parallel between that environment and individual perception with reference to such things as isolation, void and space. The result is devastatingly haunted, desolate, rain-soaked soundscapes -- utterly stunning.
Elisa Luu or Elisabetta Luciani to family and friends is a Rome based composer behind music that delicately fuses flute, saxophone and guitar with computer generated effects providing a spectrum of hopeful, sensitive and subtle melodies. Working alone Luciani creates a unique hybrid of mostly instrumental electronic music with subtle elements of jazz and washes of Floydian psychedelia.
Stray Ghost, redefines the definition of the word epic, creating a mythic sound hybrid between shoegaze and ambient noise - deeply mesmerizing and deliciously immersive! His back-catalogue contains critically acclaimed releases for labels like Highpoint Lowlife and Dead Pilot Records
Engine7 revel in emotional, electronic music. Their music has been likened to anyone from Sigur Ros and Mum to Tangerine Dream, and like those artists, Engine7 harnesses an inexplicable quality that manages to connect to your primal heart, touching and emotive, with layer upon layer of detail only revealing themselves upon repeated listens
Mosca delivers a dense, out of this stratosphere ambient sound, inherently powerful yet deceptively tranquil. Such is the calming nature of Mosca’s wall-shaking ambient noise, music that drips with all the viscosity of syrup, that those who listen to it are wrapped in a thick cocoon of sanguine sound. Witnesses of his rare but legendary live performances will atest to Mosca’s immense power. Foundations have been shaken, plaster has been cracked , light fixtures have been broken, and minds have been well and truly melted. There has even been rumours of outer-body experiences and other unnatural psychological states. Mosca is archetypal essential headphone listening.
Konntinent is the work of London's Antony J Harrison. As well as co-curating Phantom Channel (an esteemed Net/CD-R Label) including its special Events wing, Harrison's recorded output can be found on revered labels including Symbolic Interaction, Dynamophone, Serein and Sonic Pieces. His music is unique, utilising an arsenal of broken electronics, silky organic instrumentation, found sounds and drone-based soundscapes, Konntinent ensures he avoids well-trodden paths to establish the fact that his compositions are very much his own.
Chaz Knapp, you may remember, featured on our second compilation with the serene 'Delicate Goodbye'. Knapp also creates music as one third of Our Brother The Native, the prodigious trio signed to FatCat Records, who released the critically acclaimed 'Tooth and Claw' while in their early teens. The band returned last January with the epic 'Make Amends For We Are Merely Vessels'. Surely a contender for album of the year, 'Make Amends...' was a sprawling opus that made a mockery of the genre restrictions, with the trio exploring everything from folk to ambient and grindcore to post-rock, sometimes altogether. With the third Our Brother The Native album nearing completion, Mr Knapp has taken time out to record six tracks of piano led brilliance for Phantom Channel. Fans of Peter Broderick, Max Richter and Ralf Zurmhule will likely revel in the classical orchestration and subtle hints of electronics prevalent throughout.
Thick, melancholic and evocatively haunting soundscapes created entirely by guitar, the music of Sleeping Me employs a balance of delicacy, power and gentle reverb to present an affecting sound that's resplendent in its warmth and fiery beauty. Sleeping Me's sound finds peace in even the most heartbreaking of circumstances, rarely has the devil's instrument of choice sounded so heavenly.
Wo0 uses electric guitar as a receiver of different frequencies, transmitted by various devices into the air to create a spectrum of sounds not usualy related to such an instrument. Trying to amplify the air may not seem like a good idea and not very easy to do, but he uses his imagination and some seriously inventive equipment such as : mobile phones, remote control, radio, computer equipment and media players to fashion very sublte, harmonic, oscillating and deep compositions of structural flow. Furthermore, Wo0, founder of the Belgrade Noise Society, steers clear of laptop enhancement or other digital sources and instead creates completely organic looped sounds that touch the cornerstones of Ambient, Shoegaze and Noise -- a style he has christened 'Sky-Noise'.
Eyes Flutter Beneath is keen netaudio student Harry Towell. Having released music as Audio Gourmet, straddling various genres from Dark Ambient to Techno, through the likes of Webbed Hand Records, Towell now turns his attention to Phantom Channel, for his self-styled new direction of Bio-drone.
St Kilda is the side-project of Last Days' Graham Richardson. Having issued two critically acclaimed albums (soon to be three) through the evergreen n5MD, St Kilda acts as a distant counterpart or reprise to the themes established on his Last Days 2006 debut 'Sea'..
EL Heath finds beauty all around him; in the country side, around his home, in childhood memories, in early morning light and in dreams. As an honourary member of Epic45 and as part of madcap Welsh Krautrockers Strap The Button, it's a wonder how Mr. Heath finds time to record such captivating sounds..
Ekca Liena, the work of the prodigious Dan Mackenzie, created quite a stir with his monumental debut 'Slow Music For Rapid Eye Movement'. Issued via the excellent Dead Pilot Records, this record was a stunning collision of monolithic drones, volcanic guitar and cascading ambient soundscaping, that led those in the know to draw comparisons with Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker, Fennesz and even Mogwai. One critic even labeled it as '..a piece of music that may alter your perception of the word epic'.
Pastaklubben is an exquisite corpse of music. A joyful depression. A vivid tranquility and a painful pleasure. Formed in Copenhagen in 2007, these 4 young Cyber-Punks, armed with an array of effects units, guitars and laptops have a penchant for creating live and improvised dark, emotional and atmospheric sounds..
Ian Hawgood curates not one, but three labels, including the highly regarded Home Normal and calls both Tokyo and London his home. A stalwart of the netlabel scene with releases on several labels including 12rec and Resting Bell and a serial collaborator, Hawgood's music incorprorates a myriad of organic instrumentations marrying the abstract with the melodic, fashioning music that is nostalgic, cultured, passionate and honest.
Inverz is Thessaloniki-born Savvas Metaxas, who runs the excellent Granny Records stable. Influenced by the likes of Fennesz, Pan American, Alva Noto and My Bloody Valentine, Metaxas utilizes acoustic & electric guitars and an arsenal of pedal effects and field recordings, to create a sound rich in texture and panoramic in depth..
Language of Landscape features the talents of Calgary, Canada-based musicians Chriz Tenz and Cory Zaradur. Their music encapsulates the essence of modern composition and electroacoustic aesthetics, taking their cues from forefathers such as Last Days, Stars of the Lid, Keith Kenniff and Max Richter amongst several other influences..
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