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Today's Artist is a musician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who has released numerous records both as a solo artist and as part of various side projects, including Nadja, ARC, Caudal and Mnemosyne. He has also written several books of poetry. He has toured around world, and has made appearances at the Unsound Festival, MUTEK, and South by Southwest. He is married to Nadja bandmate, Leah Buckareff. ..... N'Joy

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An accomplished writer and musician, Aidan Baker has his artistic fingers in many pies. After graduating from Montreal's McGill University with a degree in Literature and Religious Studies, Baker released a four-song acoustic cassette as "Aodhan" (the Gaelic spelling of his name). He also teamed up with two fellow Toronto musicians to create ARC, an ambient guitar-driven trio which garnered much praise for its innovation and integrity. The group released three albums, including Two in 2001. Having been published in major literary magazines nationally and internationally, Baker released his debut album Element in 2000. In 2001, he released his follow-up, Letters, a concept album based loosely around letters from both Jack the Ripper and the Marquis de Sade.
Aidan Baker is a classically-trained multi-instrumentalist using the electric guitar as his primary instrument. Using prepared and alternate methods of playing the guitar, along with various electronic effects, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genre but draws on influences from rock, electronic, classical, and jazz. A highly prolific artist, Baker has released numerous recorded works, both solo and with various group projects, on such independent labels as Gizeh Records, Pleasence Records, Important Records, Alien8 Recordings, and his own imprint, Broken Spine Productions. Baker is also the author of several books of poetry. A regular live performer, Baker has toured extensively around the world, including appearances at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Incubate, Unsound, and Mutek, among others. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Baker currently resides in Berlin, Germany.

Mnemosyne was a trio formed in Toronto, Canada in 2002 featuring Aidan Baker on guitar, Richard Baker (ARC) on drums, and Rodin Columb on bass. The group created atmospheric post-rock and released one full-length album, The Air Grows Small Fingers, on Piehead Records.

ARC was a trio made up of Aidan Baker, Richard Baker, & Christopher Kukiel formed in Toronto, Canada in 2000. The group’s sound is centred on the melodic loops, textures, & samples provided by heavily-effected guitar & other melodic instruments. This is overlaid with tribal-esque rhythms provided by various percussive instruments, creating a roiling tapestry of both rhythmic & ambient sound, music simultaneously primeval & avant-garde.

Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff alternately based in Toronto & Berlin. The duo makes music that encompasses experimental/drone, ambient, industrail, & doom metal. Originally formed by Baker in 2003 as a solo project, Buckareff joined in 2005 to bring the project out of the studio & into a live setting. They have since released numerous albums on such labels as Essence Music, Hydrahead Records, & their own label, Broken Spine Productions.


B/B/S/, formed in 2012 in Berlin, Germany, is a trio of Aidan Baker (CA - Nadja, Whisper Room, ARC) on guitar, Andrea Belfi (IT - David Grubbs, Hobocombo, Il Sogno del Marinaio) on drums/electronics, and Erik Skodvin (NO - Svarte Greiner, Deaf Center) on guitar. The group makes improvisational music, combining abstract melodies and experimental drone textures. Their debut album Brick Mask was released in 2013 and their second full-length album Palace was released in 2016, both on Miasmah Records.

Hypnodrone Ensemble is Aidan Baker & Eric Quach (aka Thisquietarmy) joined by three drummers, Felipe Salazar (Caudal, Muerte En Pereira), Jérémie Mortier (Alice in the Cities, Lady Shot from a Tree), and Dave Dunnett (Man Meets Bear), to create propulsive, poly-rhythmic space rock. Hypnodrone Ensemble released their live debut in 2014 on Consouling Sounds & a studio-recorded follow up in 2015 on Calostro Recordings.

Whisper Room is a trio of Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums/effects), & Neil Wiernik (bass/effects). The three members of Whisper Room moved in similar musical circles in Toronto & Montreal for many years, sporadically playing together &/or sharing stages, but did not actively come together as a group until late 2006. As an improvisational unit combining their disparate musical backgrounds, the trio creates music which explores the conjunction of electronic rhythms & textures with the pulsations & psychedelics of shoegaze & krautrock music. They released their debut full-length album, Birch White on Elevation Recordings and their follow-up The Cruelest Month on Consouling Sounds in 2014

Adoran is a duo consisting of Aidan Baker on drums & Dorian Williamson on bass. The project makes music combining elements of post-rock, drone, industrial, and sludge. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2012 and their second album Children of Mars is the autumn of 2015, both by Consouling Sounds.

Caudal was a trio featuring Aidan Baker on guitar, Gareth Sweeney on bass, & Felipe Salazar on drums. Baker’s multi-layered, heavily affected guitar overlays Sweeney & Salazar’s driving, propulsive rhythm section creating music equally influenced by krautrock, post-punk, and spacerock. Their debut album Forever In Another World was released in 2013 Oaken Palace Records. Their second full-length album Ascension was released by Consouling Sounds in 2014.

Infinite Light Ltd was a collaborative project between Aidan Baker, Nathan Amundson (Rivulets), and Mat Sweet (Boduf Songs). The trio released one album combining folk, ambient, and shoegaze sounds on the German label Denovali Records in 2011.


Scythling was a collaborative project between Aidan Baker and Josh Rothenburger of Bloody Panda exploring sounds conflating dark-ambient and doom metal. The group released one album, Smokefall, with various guest contributors on Aurora Borealis records in 2012.


WERL is a duo of Aidan Baker on guitar with Swedish drummer Tomas Järmyr creating improvisational music which explores noise, metal, drone, & freejazz. Their debut release came out in 2016 on Consouling Sounds and their follow-up is forthcoming September 2017 on Wolves&Vibrancy/Dio Drone Records.


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Aidan Baker's "Element (PWYC)", consists of five 1990's composed pieces, finally released in 2000 as his first release. Experimental to the top, reminds me sometimes of Fred Frith's deconstructions, although Mr, Baker is less preoccupied of being strictly un-musical and of course incisively taking full advantage of over- electrifying his efforts through his electric guitar's sound proclivity towards noise and beyond. Therefore, expect ambiental distortions couterpointed by raw but bittersweet melody lines , in an early and inspired first release and what at that moment may have sounded like breaking free of the chains of traditional electric-guitar schools and focusing on inventing, the same as Mr, Frith, a self-taught and own, new guitar idiom.

Toronto guitarist Aidan Baker released Element, his first CD, in June 2000 as a CD-R packaged without a booklet. It contains five solo electric guitar pieces recorded at various locations between 1997 and 2000. Baker makes extensive use of electronics, especially reverb, backward effects, and looping, creating ambient soundscapes that develop very slowly. On the three "Element" tracks, the guitar is played with drumsticks, scissors, and bows. Baker reverts to more traditional playing on the two "Elemental" tracks. No notes, only atmospheres -- and good ones. One can completely forget that the only instrument used is a guitar; these could be pure electronic pieces. Of course this means the material remains rather static, but the self-taught guitarist is not here to show his chops. What he shows instead is his flair for sound textures. Another quality is his aptitude to not overcrowd a soundscape; the second "Elemental" track is a rather well executed example of this. The sound quality is not perfect -- there is some hiss in the background on a few tracks -- but good enough not to distract. Interesting for those who seek some relaxation music that doesn't sound new agey. Fans of Robert Fripp's soundscapes should investigate further.



<a href="http://depositfiles.com/files/d254kltm2">Aidan Baker - Element </a> ( flac 215mb)

01 Element #1 3:30
02 Elemental 11:00
03 Element #3 6:00
04 Element #2 8:00
05 Elementary 11:00

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Aidan Baker has been quite prolific in 2002. I Fall Into You, a CD-R released by Public Eyesore, falls into the "good" pile. It consists of dark guitar soundscapes accompanied by poems. Baker, who also fronts a career as a writer, came up with powerful lyrics on the topic of love as addiction/virus/dependence/transformation. The diptych "I Fall Into You/& Replicate" becomes the leitmotif of the album and mirrors with its implications the dark eroticism of the ambient soundscapes. Baker plays guitar (electric and acoustic), bass, and loops, creating lush moods that slowly change in terms of hues and feelings. Naomi Okabe recites with him, incarnating the reciprocal of the poems. "Lapse" and "Lethe," both seven minutes in duration, work as the walk-in/walk-off pair. The second reuses the soft synth chords and beatbox track of the first in reverse, giving the track a mutated feel completely attuned to the topic. "Lysis" (25 minutes) and "Symbiosis" (ten minutes) present most of the argument, both lyric- and music-wise. There Baker hits a peak as a sound designer/collagist. The pieces run deep and captivate, much more than the improvised Letters. Baker struck a balance between word and sound, plus this album benefits from better production values and a solid concept. Recommended.




<a href="https://mir.cr/8SCWSCBM">Aidan Baker - I Fall Into You </a> ( flac 246mb)

01 Lapse 7:16
02 Lysis 24:50
03 Symbiosis 10:20
04 Phage 1:00
05 Lethe 7:16


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Released as a CDR by the Omaha-based Foreign Lands label, Eye of Day shows once more how quickly guitarist Aidan Baker has matured into a first-rate experimental ambient improviser. This one is completely instrumental; Letters and I Fall into You, his previous solo efforts, also featured his poetry. Equipped with an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a bass, and an array of loops and effects, Baker summons to life droning beasts that will give you sweet nightmares. The album is comprised of three extended pieces. The 23-minute "Glauz Dnya" begins with a lot of tape hiss and the listener is left to decide whether it is intentional or not. Let's hope it is, but that amateurish impression dissipates quickly as we get sucked into the maelstrom of spinning guitar feedback. Time flies as the piece hypnotically changes its shape while remaining surprisingly the same. "Stehotvorenye Dlya Solntsa" (ten minutes) is downright ambient, lulling you to sleep while it hovers delicately in mid-air. But the highlight is "Pesnya Dlya Leah" (17 minutes), where Baker builds a beautiful soundscape of e-bowed notes, pedal-volume chords, noisy drones, and chiming sounds. Eye of Day may not be as impressive (or personal) as I Fall into You, but it still strikes the imagination and takes the listener on a satisfying aural journey somewhat reminiscent of vintage Maeror Tri.



<a href="https://bayfiles.com/lf3aJancp0/Adn_Bkr_Ey_Of_Dy_zip">   Aidan Baker  - Eye of Day</a> ( flac 284mb)

01 Glauz Dnya 22:50    
02 Stehotvorenye Dlya Solntsa 10:15    
03 Pesnya Dlya Leah 17:20     
    
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After a period of gradual expansion on his sound (adding poetry recitation, female voices, string instruments, etc.), Aidan Baker released in 2004 a number of limited-edition full-lengths and EPs featuring solely his multi-tracked electric guitar drones. An Intricate Course of Deception is thus an all-instrumental, all-guitar affair. It is also the first pressed CD released by the Montreal micro-label .angle.rec. Baker's discography is getting crowded, but most of his albums came out in very limited editions or on very low-profile labels, so chances are that the ones you manage to locate won't seem too repetitive. Yet, An Intricate Course of Deception represents the core of Baker's art. It contains four extended tracks consisting of slowly evolving, thick multi-layered guitar drones ranging from the shyly peaceful to the disturbingly dark. In fact, on this particular album, Baker dives deeper into scary, psyched-out guitar effects, especially in the second half of "Thread/Bare" and in "Gossamer," one of his best instrumental drones to this day. The four pieces are presented in decreasing order of duration (25, 19, 8 and 8 minutes), a simple yet effective way of respecting the listener's attention span and effort. The first and longest piece, "Interweaver" feels overlong, but it is also the most suitable track for meditation or contemplation. "Thread/Bare" and "Gossamer" are more tortured, even raucous at times, hinting at the harshest moments in Troum's music or even the clinical, oppressive sound of Richard Pinhas (in the last two minutes of "Gossamer"). "Weft" comes back to gentler textures and is dominated by delicate manipulations on a prepared guitar. Baker's music is more singular and personal when he adds his poetry or other instruments to the mix, but An Intricate Course of Deception still makes a fine listen and will probably appeal more to fans of dark drone music than Eye of Day or I Fall Into You.



<a href="https://multiup.org/c41eeb0ce35bde5ab0d2656d41bb1e0e"> Aidan Baker - An Intricate Course Of Deception</a> ( flac 276mb)

01 Interweaver 25:02
02 Thread / Bare 18:48
03 Gossamer 8:35
04 Weft 8:21

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