Owl Island

Hunter P. Thompson leaves his acid/ambient house project Akasha System 

continue to rest and will release his 2nd album as Tegu in 2024.

“Forest Hills” brought sunshine to my personal start to the year.

I would have been only too happy to accompany the tour for the album (together with Wave Temples and others).

But travel expenses and time were disproportionate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT9f_EAB_WU

So now “Owl Island” and with colleagues I admire like Wave Temples and X.Y.R. Hunter P.Thompson brings the smile back to my face, and the lack of sun and temperatures just above 0 degrees suddenly don't matter anymore.

The tracks move between meditative sequences and expectant moments, always permeated by a slightly mystical, mysterious aura. The combination of organic and electronic elements creates a unique atmosphere that is both calming and captivating.

„The second outing by Hunter Thompson’s tribalist dub alias Tegu skews more spectral and simmering, a canopy of cascading keys, hand percussion, and swells of everglades bass: Owl Island. Recorded in early 2024 on the banks of a Floridian canal, the album’s 11 tracks roll in like shifting fog over an ancient marsh, swaying with low end and loops of humid synths.

Across 53 minutes, the music moves between séance and visitation, alternately transient and expectant, bathed in a sheen of starlight and streetlights. Fellow voyagers Wave Temples and X.Y.R. join for a pair of smoky, cosmic cameos, but otherwise this is a solitary affair – locked in, looking up, mapping new constellations in the expanding void.“

• Not Not Fun -

„Tegu, the tribalist dub alias of Hunter Thompson, has released his second album, Owl Island, under the label Not Not Fun. The album, recorded in early 2024 along the banks of a Floridian canal, contains 11 tracks with a total duration of 53 minutes. The music on the album is characterized by layered keyboard patterns, rhythmic hand percussion, and deep bass tones that create an atmosphere reminiscent of the Everglades. The sound is described as both spectral and environmental, evoking a sense of immersion in a natural, yet otherworldly setting.

The album includes contributions from Wave Temples and X.Y.R., who appear on the tracks “2×12” and “2×11,” respectively. Despite these collaborations, the album largely remains a solo endeavor, exploring themes of solitude and introspection. The music transitions between various moods, from séance-like environments to more tense and anticipatory moments, all enveloped in a mix of natural and artificial light.

• retrofuturista -

Café a la Cardamome

 

In times like these, ambient music is never a bad idea about hatred, hecticness 

and racing hearts not to let it come into play in the first place.

Ambient music is actually always a musical companion in my life,

And the term is also flexible. But that's probably something like a pill box for on the go. 

Just much healthier.

Atlantea Records are Tom Lievens and Anthony Asher Yates.

Both of them have been making my world a better world with their projects Atmosphere and Balsam for years. The fact that Vladimir Karpov (or Xram Yedinennogo Razmuwlenuja, based on a novella by Nikolai Gogol published in 1842), who I also admire very much and is busy, recently became a member of the Atlantea Family makes sense and was perhaps even overdue. 

A release with track names like “Café a la Cardamome”, “Blue Lagoon”, or “Coconut Pickers”  

is very likeable and interesting per se. A Volume 1 in the title name also suggests a subsequent release. The album is full of X.Y.R. References from previous releases,

Compiled here from a different, but not entirely new, perspective.

Fruity Loops. Sit back and enjoy.

„such a beautiful album from the very first notes. very well crafted with a lot of details and with big care to the every sound. you may think that this album is already exist in your memory because a lot of sounds you already listened possibly every day and it works pretty well, because your brain thinks that it's just another day in your life and when it's over then you press repeat because the day was great „

• Go4awalk Music -

Music by Xram Yedinennogo Razmuwlenuja 

Audio mastering by Tom Lievens 

Cover artwork by Anthony Asher-Yates

Polaris

 

America has done it again: Trump has been elected for the second time.

It has to mean something. But:

I have no words.

Luciano Ermondi and Paolo Mazzacani, perhaps better known to some through their 

Balearic albums with Gigi Masin as Tempelhof, released after two releases on 

A strangely isolated Place, a few days ago their new album as One Million Eyes 

on the Oakland-based Constellation Tatsu.

Just beautiful music.

From America. 

If you will.

„One Million Eyes, previously known as Templehof, return with a new album of balearic ambient, previously heard on two excellent releases for A Strangely Isolated Place. This time appearing on legendary cassette label Constellation Tatsu as part of their fall combo, anyone familiar with their previous work will know what to expect. Dreamy, sun hazed analogue synth lines mix with deep fourth world soundscapes that wouldn't sound out of place on 90s labels such as Pete Namlook's Fax or Instinct Ambient. The first half of Signal begins slowly, eyes wide shut, with 'Nickel', a slow pulsating jam of chilled out psychedelia. 'Marea' blends organic instrumentation with distant, processed voices. 'Koala', the deepest cut on the album, leads to a mood shift in 'Opalescent' that will sound eerily familiar to any Gaussian Curve fans. 'Polaris', 'Solstice' and highlight 'Landscape' close out the album in style. For fans of anyone from Music From Memory, Jonathan Fitoussi & Ishq, there are few better ways to relive your memories of later summer.“

Juno records -

„Hot on the heels of their acclaimed second album, Iris, One Million Eyes unveil their latest work, Polaris. This new album is a rich tapestry of analog and instrumental elements, creating a vibrant and dynamic experience. 

Formerly known as Tempelhof (where they collaborated with artists like Gigi Masin), Luciano Ermondi and Paolo Mazzacani created One Million Eyes upon the realizing they needed a new creative outlet to rekindle their passion for making music. This new project allowed them to approach their instruments and influences untethered to the body of work and inhibitions of their past. What results is a shimmering, energetic current of organic instrumentation and analog synthesizers that carries us on a meditative journey through interior landscapes.“

Release Info 

Coconut Dealers

 

The Coconut Dealers, if we want to believe the release info, and why shouldn't we? -

only steered their ship through tropical waters for 1 - 2 years. That was more than 10 years ago. 

The crew probably only consisted of Konstantin Shkolnikov. Shkolnikov, as captain, boatsmate and cook all rolled into one, followed the same route that Dolphins into the Future, Wave Temples and other adventurers had already taken.

Afterwards, his trail is lost in the vastness of the sea, in the jungle of an unspecified island or just a faceless satellite city of the Russian Federation.

Whatever he left behind, and however it ended up in Not Not Fun's Britt Brown's hands, here comes almost 2 hours of oceanic bliss, 2 hours of support to bring back the memories of your last seaside vacation to refresh.

„Exquisitely woozy ambient wow and flutter from Russian Federation rogue naturalist Konstantin Shkolnikov, landing square between the distant gazes of Spencer Clark, Huerco S. and 1991.

Hard to resist, the pull of warmer climes and better days is most beautifully at the core of Coconut Dealers’ gently hallucinatory recordings here. Made sometime around 2011, and issued at the time as digital releases which totally escaped most radars, you can trust the ever reliable NNF to bide their time perfectly with this comprehensive survey and reminder of the project, spanning nearly 2 hours of breezy tropical transportation that will surely do in lieu of holidays for us.

There’s no shortage of this style in circulation, but the amount that’s worth your time is small. ‘Coconut Dealers’ is most certainly worth the dive though, turning an array of found research recordings gifted to the artists by an oceanographer friend, into a lush sort of ethnographic collage where rolling surf laps sloshing keys, waterfall sounds, and flanging tape hiss resembling far away jet planes.

Perhaps unavoidably comparisons should be made with Spencer Clark’s myriad “ethnographic” aliases, but also 1991 cult ‘High-Tech High-Life’ album, which shares much of the Coconut Dealers’ melodic wistfulness and washed out tape textures, just like Huerco S. when he vapourises the beats. Treat your ears to a few hours in the sun, no factor 50 needed.“

Boomkat 

„Russian Federation rogue naturalist Konstantin Shkolnikov launched Coconut Dealers in 2011 after being gifted an extensive vault of research recordings by an oceanographer friend. Inspired by their beauty and blankness, he began shaping them into ethnographic collages of rolling surf, sundazed keys, hand drums, tropical waterfalls, and tape hiss, “like notes in the diary of some traveler,” compelled by a compositional muse he describes as “pure visionary.” 

After three self-released digital collections the project ceased activities in 2012. Totaling nearly two hours, this remastered box set presents the entirety of the Coconut Dealers soundsphere, spanning all manner of aquatic and equatorial hallucination: “sunny archipelagos, woeful lagoons in the night, sleepy sand bays of restless waters with no horizon.” This is music of the mind's eye, adrift and ascendent, divined from and for the infinite seas within.“

NNF Release Info on Bandcamp

Isle Enchanted

 A really long, wonderful summer, despite many personal lows this year, was followed by a very nice autumn with temperatures sometimes reaching up to 20 degrees. 

They are days that I would like to spend just in nature, with my face turned to the sun, with big eyes for the colors of the leaves on the trees and always with a little melancholy in my heart. In the reality of everyday life, this often comes to nothing and hours in the forest turn into minutes on the streets between things to do.

A favorite companion on my walks in nature is Fantasy island ethnographer Wave Temples. For over 10 years, my heart beats faster whenever a new release is announced.

2022/2023 was a fantastic Wave Temples year, “Panama Shift” was the first release on vinyl, and there were also a few cassette releases on Possible Motive, among others (later in this program). Before that, things had been quiet around Wave Temples for a long time, partly due to some turbulence in his life.

See also the Interview with Inverted Audio:

 

https://inverted-audio.com/mix/wave-temples/

“Isle Enchanted” was released on Britt Brown’s great Not Not Fun label at the end of 2016.

My brother had just passed away a month before & we were out of ours at the end of the year 

Apartment canceled due to personal use. So it will always be the soundtrack of those days. Someone (presumably Britt Brown himself) decided to put "Masterpiece" on the cover. For me it is, but it could also be on most other Wave Temples releases. The album was released on December 16, 2016 and one of my last actions with the old WiFi was to download this album (the tape only came to me later). The next day we put down new roots in a new place.

The album has some wonderful reviews and descriptions that I couldn't describe any better and, as usual, I'm happy to let them speak for themselves.

„The Florida musician who records as Wave Temples—whoever they are—has chosen an apt name for their project. The first thing you hear on Isle Enchanted is the sound of foaming waves, closely followed by a keyboard line that mimics the sound of a tropical pan flute. Enchanted follows a string of similarly coastal LPs—Sleeping Tortugas, In the Shade of the Island—and its primary concern is not having any primary concerns. The two 15-minute compositions that make up the album drift by dreamlike, consisting of little more than ocean sounds and synths that ripple like the aurora borealis. Where his labelmates on the LA-based Not Not Fun bend and distend synths to create distinctly unsettling worlds, Wave Temples is more serene than surreal.

But what makes Isle Enchanted so engrossing is the way Wave Temples uses repeated patterns to hypnotizing effect. Nine minutes into “Part I,” the landscape suddenly shifts from a simple, two-note lullabye to what sounds like digital windchimes caught in a strong breeze. The tight cluster of notes repeats over and over, ocean roaring behind them, neither gaining nor losing strength. The net effect is weirdly calming, the twinkling keyboards becoming as regular and expected as the next heartbeat. “Part II” is even more translucent; the ocean keeps going, but the synth lines sound like they’re being played in a grotto far below. There are no sharp edges to the sounds on Enchanted; everything is low and flutelike. The album ends with a simple, five-note melody plunked out on what sounds like a computerized kettle drum, the space between each note big enough to contain a whole other song. Isle Enchanted doesn’t command attention or dazzle with complexity. It simply invites you to disappear inside of it for a while.“

J. Edward Keyes - Bandcamp/Album of the Day/04.01.17

„Floridian fantasy island ethnographer Wave Temples is responsible for a unique flow of opaque tropical hallucinations since 2013, issued via a variety of noted tape boutiques. His latest, Isle Enchanted, maps a mirage coastline of salt haze, cerulean water, and smeared, siren keys. Both sides were tracked across three summer days, inspired by notions of Polynesian paradise and the Māori underworld. Blank blue waves swell and ebb, tones float and fade, textures phase and decay – Isolation Exotica, for castaways abandoned on utopian shores. As personal and poetic an encapsulation of palm tree minimalism as any we’ve heard since …On Sea-Faring Isolation (2009). The more hidden the temple the more sacred the space: “This place to me is what it must have been like to discover the island of Capri or Malta uninhabited since beyond ancient days.” 

Recorded live at Hawaiki, June 20-22, 2016. 

Images sourced by WT. 

Design by Britt Brown.  

Mastered by Alter Echo.

ABANDONED PARADISE

OCEAN AT LOW TIDE

CAVES OF THE GROTTO AQUATICA

SAND LAIN BARE, SHIMMERING NAKED IN THE SUN PAST THE WATCHFUL GUARDIANS

DEEP INSIDE WITH POOLS OF RADIANCE

THIS IS WHERE THE SLEEPING GIANT SLEEPS AND HIS ONE-THOUSAND DREAMS

OF LAPIS SCIMMIA AT THE IVORY RUIN

BENEATH THE SACRED CENOTE AND THE LOST SHRINE OF THE MANY SHELLED TRITONS IN THE SACRED WATER GARDEN OF PRIAPUS AND APHRODITE

A WIND QUIXOTIC

Inverted Land

 

Since “Secret Earth” (2019), Wolfgang Moistl’s Aka Wolf Lehmann 

First Album as Voyage Futur, the project is a solid one Greatness 

in my ambient / new age cosmos.

A Voyage Futur album rarely sounds like its predecessor.

And yet it quickly becomes clear what can be heard here.

You can almost always find a place in the apartment 

Find where you can stretch your legs far away from you.

Hands like to be folded behind the neck. The view from the window.

On the recently released “Inverted Land” by vill4in, the marimba plays 

on the majority of the tracks Big role. The fantastic pre-single 

“Ancient Ruins Of The World” also names frame drum, tongue drum, 

bamboo flute, strings & synths.

This defines the sound of the whole album quite well.

The marimba is already known from the previous album “Wellen”

No stranger. But while on “Wellen/Waves” the tracks keep coming back

turn towards Dub and Kraut – as attested in the accompanying text – 

“to bathe in Fourth World lagoons”,  (Thx The Gap!) everything flows slowly here. 

Nobody is in a hurry here.

„Night Falls” also works wonderfully in the morning, with the first one

Cup of coffee in hand. Or tea if you prefer.

And that goes for every other track on the album. 

Here and there crickets chirp or a few birds add their mustard. 

You actually want to hear it all again and again,

and right after that “Secret Earth”, “Inner Sphere”, “Virtuell Moonlight” & “Wellen”.

“Inverted Land” is released on beautifully colored vinyl, with a

beautifully designed Cover again.

Currently only available directly from Vill4in and due to the high shipping costs

not an option for me.

It's possible that there will be a tape release later. The last two releases

Released like “Inverted Land” on vinyl on Vill4in, and later there was

Tape releases on Britt Brown's Not Not Fun.