★Students of Decay

It's been a little while since we've last heard from Oakland-based sound artist Marielle Jakobsons in a solo capacity, but that's certainly not to say she hasn't been busy. Last year saw full-length outings by her two duo projects, Date Palms and Myrmyr, and already in 2012 works with Bay Area drone ensemble Portraits and trio recordings with Helena Espvall and Agnes Szelag have been released. Her last major solo outing (under the nom-de-plume Darwinsbitch) came in form of the dark, comple…

Already Gone is the second full length album from West Coast dream-drone unit En, the duo of Maxwell August Croy and James Devane, following their well-received debut album The Absent Coast (released in 2010 on Root Strata, which Croy runs alongside Jefre Cantu-Ledesma). For their sophomore release, the pair has opened up their tonal palette considerably. While the comparisons that critics made of their first album to the work of Tim Hecker and Stars of the Lid still hold true, Already Gone find…

Describing the music of Aquarelle's Ryan Potts is a difficult task indeed. It's related to the hazy, heavily treated output of musicians such as Fennesz and Tim Hecker, but one would be remiss to locate it solely within the realm of electronic ambient or drone, as there are often strong organic, rhythmic and composerly elements to Potts' work. In fact, the title of his last record, Slow Circles, might offer the best point of access into the Aquarelle aesthetic, in which compositional trop…

*restocked* Recorded from 2009-2011, during which time Caboladies members Eric Lanham and Chris Bush relocated from Kentucky to Chicago, Renewable Destination constitutes the duo's most refined and focused work to date. Both as a collaborative unit and under solo monikers Carl Calm and Flower Man, Lanham and Bush have produced a wealth of limited-run releases in recent years on labels such as Arbor, Dekorder, Digitalis, and their own Smooth Tapes imprint which document their uniquely fractured s…

This ultra limited, and long out of print cd-r from 2007, finally available again, now as a super swank (and still quite limited) lp...Another gorgeous sonic transmission from right here in the Bay Area, from AQ fave Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, the man behind Tarentel, and the Root Strata label. Those familiar with Cantu-Ledesma's music know that he usually speakers in hushed whispers, breathy and breathless, soft sonic shimmers allowed to drift like billowy clouds into your ears. But here, C-L …

In Search of Light is the full-length follow-up to the well-received Fountain (RS 057CD), Danny Paul Grody's debut solo release. Many listeners no doubt recognize Grody from his work in San Francisco-based groups Tarentel and The Drift. As a solo artist, he produces wistful, poignant music culled principally from acoustic guitar and synthesizer. Grody's work recalls aspects of the post-Takoma school in that fingerpicked, cyclical melodies make up the crux of many of his recordings. However,…

2009 release ** The third full-length CD by AREA C, released this time by Students of Decay: "Glacial harmonics drift in and out of each channel, skittering, modulated notes pulse and surge, sputtering suddenly to luminescent manifestation before disappearing just as quickly."

Following on from 2004's Yellow Horizon, At Last A New Dawn comes as a momentous deployment of Peter Wright's adventurous, emotionally resonant electroacoustic music. This double disc set offers an extensive portrait of Wright's work, opening up with the threatening hum of 'Urban Wolves', a piece that escalates in intensity, slowly fleshing out what began as an oddly hollow-sounding sonic husk, only to segue into the unnerving noise and field recording melange 'Death Ships Approaching', a piece …