Sundaze 2046

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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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ARC formed spontaneously in 2000 at a performance at the Ambient Ping, Toronto's longrunning live ambient/experimental music series. ARC is a trio made up of Aidan Baker (guitars, flutes, tape loops), Richard Baker (drum kit, percussion), and Christopher Kukiel (percussion). The group's music is a mixture of Popul Vuh acoustic compositions, Pink Floyd's Ummagumma era, Voice of Eye, or Subarachnoid Space, with dense, organic drones and hypnotic ethnic rhythms. ARC's sound is centered on melodic loops, textures, and samples provided by heavily effected guitars and other melodic instruments. This is overlaid with tribal rhythms provided by various percussive instruments: drum kit, djembe, tabla, wood blocks, and more. With this combination, ARC creates a roiling tapestry of both rhythmic and ambient sound, simultaneously primeval and avant-garde. ARC, regular performers in Toronto and Montreal, has released a number of CD-R releases on such labels as Piehead Records, Worthy Records, and the band's own Arcolepsy Records. The Circle Is Not Round, the band's debut CD release, is packaged in a special cardboard digisleeve with varnished images



<a href="https://mir.cr/1ZAD253E">Arc - The Circle Is Not Round</a> ( flac 339mb)

01 The Endless Sequence Of Life And Death 16:25
02 The Circle Is Not Round 12:31
03 Desire Is Suffering 12:00
04 Prajna 17:00


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The Sea Swells a Bit is a three song album released on A Silent Place. Its title track starts out with a dark and simplistic guitar chord pattern, but evolves into something decidedly more sinister as it progresses. It is an extraordinarily sprawling work – this song alone is just hits above the twenty one minute mark. Soon, a drum set emerges into existence to compliment its other musical counterpart. All the while, highly processed ambient pads increase in volume while simultaneously another effect, echos — are being applied to the draining guitar work. Its intensity ever increasing, the song becomes an icy, out-of-focus journey until its completion. And that’s only the first song!

“When Sailors Die” is a slightly less of an epic adventure as its predecessor track, which is not to say it’s bad by any means: it starts out almost immediately into a bass driven, light drum work-fueled song; a real pleasant experience listening to. All of these tracks really capture what the album’s title conveys. Recommended for those who enjoy the sounds of thisquietarmy, Tim Hecker, Nadja, and other slow, “drenchingly heavy” music. A wholly fantastic release.



<a href="https://www.imagenetz.de/SenHo">Aidan Baker - The Sea Swells A Bit... </a> ( flac 306mb)

01 The Sea Swells a Bit 21:00
02 When Sailors Die 17:19
03 Davey Jones' Locker 15:58

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A collaborative album of glitchy ambient guitar drone with French duo Ultra Milkmaids, originally released on Infraction Records. I like the idea of ultra milkmaids.... my mind is racing with white frilly bonnets, huge milk urns and Moll Flanders style busty wenches. Am sort of wishing I was Aidan right now.... or maybe Aidan is 2005 as that is when this was released and I'm pretty sure the milkmaids would have left him for greener pastures (they're a fickle bunch). Here's a lovely album of ambient guitar drone and fuzz which makes Mingus think of Fennesz and me think of Tim Hecker. That kind of warm fuzzy thing... You get sucked into it's ample charms and before you know it, the album has finished and you're wanting more. As ever excellent stuff from a label which hasn't done any wrong so far



<a href="https://bayfiles.com/h6U0Zeo8pc/Adn_Bkr_n_Ultr_Mlkmds_At_Hm_Wth_zip">   Aidan Baker & Ultra Milkmaids - At Home With -</a> ( flac 273mb)

01 Part 1 (In The Cube) 12:31
02 Stretched Guitars Lie Slo 21:16
03 Part II (At Home With) 10:36    
    
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This one has definitely been a grower for me. When I first heard this, I was extremely unimpressed. I was disappointed to find myself not enjoying one of Aidan's new releases, so I set it aside because I knew there had to be something I was missing. Some months later, I came back to this and found myself interested, but not really wowed. Another short break of months passed, and I gave it a third try - and that time it really hit me. And ever since that third try, I've been listening to this more often than a lot of his other releases, which says a lot because this guy is one of my favorite artists.



<a href="https://multiup.org/a93b605ccc4fe05417e742687eab1955">Aidan Baker - Green & Cold</a> ( flac 474mb)

01 ――― 7:06
02 Chainsaw 5:34
03 Merge 5:47
04 Beautiful Beast 12:06
05 Green & Cold 4:16
06 Machina 7:26
07 ――― 9:43
08 ――― 3:22

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