Sundaze 1146

Hello, autumn is still giving us temperatures above normal, in fact temps have been well above average since early October, after a rather cool summer and warm spring i'm beginning to wonder where the seasons went, even nature is confused. To be honest here, would love to see a repeat of that next year. As for that rip-off global warming scam, Gore and his cronies can go to hell and complain there. The Earth is a very dynamic eco system and possibly one of the wonders of the universe, continuously getting raped by ignorant sociopaths that pride themselves for their actions, worse getting lauded for it. That said the Earth can take it, it plays a long game . We humans will come to our senses or be long gone in say a mere 100,000 years from now.

So today we leave the German ambient masters for what they are, i'll get back to them in the future. Today music that sprang from the ashes of Talk Talk a band that after initial commercial success got evermore minimal, in a way they faded themselves out. Later the rhythm section Webb and Harris reappeared as O'Rang and even singer songwriter Mark Hollis made a one off reappearance with a eponymous solo album 7 years later, since he decided to become a family man, as his youngest is now 21, who knows what's in store..

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Bassist Paul Webb and drummer Lee Harris were bandmates for a decade in Talk Talk. A year after the band's final release -- 1992's critically acclaimed Laughing Stock -- Harris and Webb built a studio that they dubbed The Slug. Once the studio was up and running, the duo allowed all sorts of musicians to come in and improvise with them, using the resulting music as source material with which to create the music heard on 'O'Rang's albums. The band's recorded debut was the EP Spoor (1994) followed by two full lengths, Herd of Instinct (1995) and Fields & Waves (1996). The recordings were originally released on Echo Records and later picked up and reissued for the in 1997 by Chicago's Hit It! Recordings, followed a year later by the new Remixes. 'O'Rang features Webb and Harris (numerous sparring partners appear on the album as well, among them, Talk Talk sessioneer Mark Feltham and his acerbic harmonica; and The The's Matt Johnson on organ and guitar) on a variety of instruments, incorporating dub rhythms, various percussion, and thickly layered atmospherics to create a rock music that has been highly praised by U.K. publications such as The Wire, and Melody Maker. A newer album (working title: Loudhailer No. 19) was projected for release in 2001, but the album remains unreleased.

In 2002 Paul has worked on a project with Beth Gibbons of Portishead. Using the moniker 'Rustin Man', releasing the acclaimed Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man's Out of Season and a year later Acoustic Sunlight ( a live album recorded spring equinox 2003 in Berlin) Lee toured along aswell in 2003

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Herd of Instinct , was recorded similarly to Talk Talk's later albums: guest musicians played hours of improvisational material, then the performances were edited down and pieced together. However, in contrast to Talk Talk, the song structures were not planned before being recorded. As Paul Webb explains, "it was recorded before it was written.". If nothing seems to be happening, just wait - everything will sort itself out in time. This simple and reassuring philosophy is implicit in Herd of Instinct, the first album by Orang. Core band members Lee Harris and Paul Webb, have waited a long time to produce this collection of seven abrasive and intense songs. But we have to use 'songs' in the loosest sense, as Orang have disposed of conventional forms as far as possible. The music was created from lengthy improvisations in their studio-cum-shrine, The Slug, and pieced together in painstaking detail afterwards. Most of the instruments are acoustic; the technology assembling the jigsaw of material is practically state-of-the-art digital. The result is a free-flowing, dub-spiked, nebulous world music for the chill-out generation. The Spoor EP is included here.

O'Rang - Herd of Instinct + (flac 307 mb)

01 Orang 10:08
02 Little Brother 9:27
03 Mind On Pleasure 6:19
04 All Change 2:55
05 Anaon, The Oasis 8:59
06 Loaded Values 8:17
07 Nahoojek ~ Fogou 8:42

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'Herd' had an expansive freeform feel. The duo's, 'Fields And Waves' is more solid, more designed. This approach has swung them marginally away from the realms of sonic freefall ; several tracks tilt towards the kind of congested angst familiar from Matt Johnson's The The recordings. But even here the sound still swarms unexpectedly. Suddenly the music flocks, twists its composure; the riffs are dissipated into a multitude of plucked reverberations. Orang's is an intense music, a swelling, sometimes subterranean sound, but one that's strangely involuted, floating between musical categories. The album is a collection of precise and lovely soundscapes, a seducing mixture of hypnotic techno rhythms, pan-ethnic sounds and ear-grabbing samples. Most of the listener's time is spent enjoying an instrumental experience. There is no singer, per se, but vocals and speech are incorporating as more winning sounds in this successful mix. Intelligent, melodic electronica that is visually engaging.

O'Rang - Fields and Waves (flac 359mb)

01 Barren 7:30
02 Jalap 8:10
03 P.53 6:03
04 Moider 4:52
05 Seizure 3:34
06 Moratorium 4:06
07 Superculture 4:37
08 Quondam 7:56
09 Forest 4:14
10 Hoo 7:56
11 Boreades 4:06
12 Fields & Waves 2:05
13 Untitled 1:42

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Achingly gorgeous and hauntingly stark, Mark Hollis' self-titled debut picks up where he left off with Talk Talk's Laughing Stock seven years earlier, re-emerging at the nexus point where jazz, ambient, and folk music collide. It's quite possibly the most quiet and intimate record ever made, each song cut to the bone for maximum emotional impact and every note carrying enormous meaning. Hollis paints his music in fine, exquisite strokes, with an uncanny mastery of atmosphere that's frequently devastating. And if anything, his singularly resonant voice has grown even more plaintive with the passage of time, which -- combined with the understated artistry and minimalist beauty of tracks like "The Colour of Spring" and "Watershed" -- makes Mark Hollis a truly unique and indelible listening experience. Sadly, Hollis since retired from music and has not issued any recordings since.

Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis - (flac 239mb)

01 The Colour Of Spring 3:52
02 The Watershed 5:45
03 Inside Looking Out 6:21
04 The Gift 4:22
05 A Life (1895 - 1915) 8:10
06 Westward Bound 4:18
07 The Daily Planet 7:19
08 A New Jerusalem 6:49


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