The Ambient Alarm Clock

The Annotated Alarm Clock for Oct 25, 2009

2009-10-25T06:02:00.000-07:00

One from the archives:

The Ambient Alarm Clock Oct 25, 2009 (Hour 1) by ambientalarmclock

Our quest to define creates art forms in itself.

Vladislav Delay is the pseudonym of Finnish electronic musician Sasu Ripatti.

Ripatti's music is renowned for its sophisticated textural qualities. His sonic approach relies heavily on a semi-random element, and many undulating, complementary and sometimes conflicting layers interplay throughout most of his music. A de-constructive element is sometimes detected within the music as Ripatti makes comment on established genres within his various releases. Wikipedia

Vladislav Delay - Toive FULL VERSION from carolina melis on Vimeo.

Mutek is an experimental & electronic music festival that happens every summer in Montreal. Go the site and download some concerts, or just stay tuned...

In the spirit of the Halloween season a few 'Dark Ambient' tracks in the first hour of the show. Featuring a few tracks from the album Stalker -- an imagined soundtrack to Andrei Tarkovsky's film of the same name -- a collaboration between Robert Rich and Lustmord.

The Lovecraftian tones were annotated with a reading from "Beyond the Wall of Sleep":

I have frequently wondered if the majority of mankind ever pause to reflect upon the occasionally titanic significance of dreams, and of the obscure world to which they belong. Whilst the greater number of our nocturnal visions are perhaps no more than faint and fantastic reflections of our waking experiences—Freud to the contrary with his puerile symbolism—there are still a certain remainder whose immundane and ethereal character permits of no ordinary interpretation, and whose vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute glimpses into a sphere of mental existence no less important than physical life, yet separated from that life by an all but impassable barrier. From my experience I cannot doubt but that man, when lost to terrestrial consciousness, is indeed sojourning in another and uncorporeal life of far different nature from the life we know; and of which only the slightest and most indistinct memories linger after waking. From those blurred and fragmentary memories we may infer much, yet prove little. We may guess that in dreams life, matter, and vitality, as the earth knows such things, are not necessarily constant; and that time and space do not exist as our waking selves comprehend them. Sometimes I believe that this less material life is our truer life, and that our vain presence on the terraqueous globe is itself the secondary or merely virtual phenomenon. From an electronic archive of H.P. Lovecraft stories.

Hour two picks up the mood and the beat:

Ambient Alarm Clock - Oct 25, 2009 11-12am by ambientalarmclock

The Annotated Alarm Clock for Oct 11, 2009

2009-10-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

The Ambient Alarm Clock 0ct 11, 09 by ambientalarmclock

A very special show, what was almost two weeks ago now. Mary-Beth Carty of Quebecois folk duo Bette & Wallet was in the studio, accordian, voice recorder and a selection of CDs from the CFXU library in tow.

A very out of tune authoharp fell into our hands in our kitchen the night prior and Mary-Beth expressed some interest in helping out with my show. She has the most uncanny ability to make gold out of an awkward situation and her improvisations and contributions over top of tracks from the laptop, a drum machine set to 20bpm, the autoharp played like a dulcimer, "Air" playing the on ipod and various scrapes, shuffles, and accidents were responsible for something I'm glad to have had the chance to record.

You should visit Mary Beth's website but you should also check out some of these musicians she knows and selected for the show:

The Banjo Consorsium remixed by Millimetrik
introduced me to two artists whose music will likely become a regular occurrence on the show.

The late Oliver Schroer's album Camino, whose recordings of bells figured prominently in the show.

The Sleeper Has Awakened

2009-10-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

After a long silence - which likely may have been indistinguishable from business as usual - The Ambient Alarm Clock is back on.

My buddy Fenn Martin made this sculpture, ages ago, and it sat in a rotten box in the chicken shed for a few years were it acquired a wonderful patina of dirt, mildew, and chicken poo. I've adopted "The Sleeper" as the mascot for the Alarm Clock.

The Annotated Alarm Clock for Oct 4, 2009.

2009-10-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

The Ambient Alarm Clock (October 4, 09) by ambientalarmclock

The Annotated Alarm Clock for Sunday October 4th, 2009:

www.ShugoTokumaru.com

www.paavoharju.com

A notable attempt at intellectualizing about the majesty of this music

Words, no matter how lovely, will always fall short in the attempt to describe something majestic; unless they become poetry, at which point they begin to be about something else.

www.generativemusic.com

2009-01-18T07:55:00.001-08:00

Late Night Radio for Half Asleep Sunday Mornings: The Ambient Alarm Clock. One of these days I'll post the playlists for the first two shows of the New Year. For now, the show for February 1st:

Substrata (I-VI)... Biosphere
The Ghost Ship/The Last Leaf... Aloof Proof
There Is No Rose of Swych Vertu... The Mediaeval Baebes
Pause - Pulse - Repeat/The Messenger... Harold Budd
Untitled - Track 7 of () ... Sigur Ros