As Long As I Can Hold My Breath pt.1
January 20, 2008 at 9:23 am
Image credit: unknown
“The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides. The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the Living Infinite.”
~ Jules Verne / 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ~
This series – consisting of three parts – pays tribute to the supernatural ambience of the ocean’s deep end as referred to in the above quote. A vastly serene atmosphere, delicate pieces and only minor mood changes hopefully make for a listening experience that is both peaceful and intense at the same time. My guidance for making this series came from how Q Magazine described Stuart Dempster’s masterpiece Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel:
“Luminous, serene and full of quiet intensity that borders on the spiritual.”
A wonderful description of an album that has a remarkable story behind it. It was recorded in an enormous cistern near Seattle with a diameter of 186 foot, a space that has some very unique acoustic characteristics. Most notably it has a very smooth reverberation time of 45 seconds without echo. The reverberation also takes over seamlessly from the original sound source at it appears to begin at the same decibel level. Because of these characteristics it is virtually impossible to tell when the artist stops playing and the reverberation takes over. The sound of the track that is featured in the playlist below is completely real and natural, no electronic simulation or any other aids were used. What you hear on this track is nothing but ten trombone players reinventing sound on the spot in almost supernatural surroundings that breaks with every frame of reference we might have for acoustic characteristics.
This series – named after the closing track of Harold Budd’s album Avalon Sutra – basically is an extended version of a mixtape I made for a friend last year. The original fourteen track version was too long to post at once so I’ve decided to cut it in half and add another seven track part in the middle. Take a deep breath before descending into the infinite and stay tuned for the next two parts.
- Harold Budd - As Long As I Can Hold My Breath
Avalon Sutra (Samadhi Sound, 2004) - Marsen Jules - Aile D’Aigle
Herbstlaub (City Centre Offices, 2005) - Andrew Chalk - Temperance
Time of Hayfield (Faraway Press, 2007) - Stuart Dempster - Secret Currents
Underground Overlays from the Cistern Chapel (New Albion, 1995) - Arvo Pärt - Berliner Messe: Agnus Dei
Te Deum (ECM, 1993) - Andrey Dergatchev - Piano
The Return (ECM, 2005) - Erik Satie/Reinbert de Leeuw - Gymnopédie No. 1
Satie: The Early Piano Works (Philips, 1998)
Genius (like all of your entries). I am wispy and floating away today. thank you.
Wow!
The Stuart Dempster track was recorded in a two million gallon subterranean water cistern from an old military base near Port Townsend, WA. Last I heard, the entrance had been welded shut because people kept climbing down and building campfires in the cistern :-(
Oh… Looks like they’re using it again!
http://www.centrum.org/admin/2007/08/map-to-the-dan-.html
it is beautiful as always! and seems we are on the same Sea wave-))) I rememeber harold budd from previous Return to the sea track list - and it is the most beautiful music picture of the SEA! thanks
Thanks for your nice comments everyone!
@ Krasi: You’re right, you have good memory, haha! It’s nice to hear that people really do remember what we post around here. I hope you’ll enjoy the next two parts as well. :)
@ Joel Shaver: Thanks so much for that link! Man, I wish I could have been there! I found a video on that same website from that performance. While they (Stuart Dempster and the rest) played in the cistern, people could listen to the music on the surface above. This is so amazing, I get goose bumps all over just from watching the video, it’s extraordinarily beautiful. Thanks so much for the link. :)
i found this website(i dont know how), BUT im inlove for your selections is amazing, great music.
sorry for my bad english…
Well, thanks for finding us! And don’t worry about your English; I’m sure it’s way better than my skills in whatever your native language may be. ;)
I found Arvo part is among the few music that really can’t fit mp3. The sound is not complete. Jimmy Smith is the other one.
Btw, is all Harold Budd music that ‘wet’? heh…I only have several of his tracks.
[...] Totally digging Kevin G Wong’s takes photoblog. Bet you will too: The Click Clique. Quarterlife, is the bi-weekly online series from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creative team behind “My So-Called Life”, “Thirtysomething”, and “Blood Diamond”. It is the first time a network-quality series has been produced directly for the Internet. NBC will premiere Quarterlife as an hour-long drama series in mid-season after it concludes its run on the Internet early in 2008, marking the first time a web series has been aired by a major network. Quarterlife.com reaches beyond the series to serve as a social network and outlet for creative individuals. “Twit Twit” is an amusing animated short by Jerome Houlier. (bottom menu, listed in animation). Evil Bee is a peculiar, though entertaining little video directed by Stefan Nadelman. Music by Menomena. (it’s nice that) Newborn Clone 3C70 unwittingly stumbles across an escape from his life of imitation when an unlikely plant breaks his replication machine: Ectype’s End, by Rhubarb Zoo. Qoob is where content is born on the web. Upload your videos, music and pictures, create your network, and share passions. When your videos are broadcast on QOOB channel, you get paid. MP3s: Negue. As Long As I Can Hold My Breath (pt.1). Games: Factory Balls. Frozzed. Recipe: Hawaiian Marinated Seared Chicken. (tastespotting) Retail Therapy: Moss is an online shop with an interesting catalogue of products. Other Points of Interest: Merdanchik. Tim Laing. J.D. King. Revisit: Stephen Berkman. Yoneko. Dwarf Complete Game. Found Sentence: Last year alone, 178 pounds of odd socks disappeared from American dryers. Listening To: Eddie From Ohio. Someone want to explain why men mature while women age? [...]
Really fantastic music. You’ve been very helpful bringing some excellent ECM New Series records to my attention, now I’ve got to add some more to the order I’m already making (Giger, Kancheli etc). Especially useful seeing as how everything released on that label looks amazing but I can’t find a resource that points me to ‘classics’ or an image as to the feel of each album. I’m having similar issues with Touch records, although at least they have digital downloads on boomkat.com so it’s not so expensive to make ‘mistakes’ (i.e albums that I end up listening to very infrequently).
A recent excellent release on Touch which fits the theme at least is Philip Jeck’s recent recording of ‘The Sinking of the Titanic’, a piece composed in 1969, invoking the spirit of the on-ship band as they continued playing as the Titanic sank, the ocean subsuming and adding to the sound. A lot of it can be sampled before purchase at boomkat.com if you’re interested.
Anyway, point: Looking forward to the next installments :)
Have you heard the Silophone?
http://www.silophone.net
It’s a grain storage silo in Montreal that’s linked to a web interface. People can upload sound files, and then play them back. Fairly lo-fi last time I checked, but the acoustics are fantastic. If you can cope with the 30 second delay, it’s a great online performance venue, especially for collaborations.
@ Station Rites: Yeah, I think I’ve read about that Titanic release once. I remember making a mental note a while ago about two releases dealing with the Titanic and other disasters. I think one of them was the one you mentioned here and the other one was a pre-war American roots collection on Tompkins Square. Thanks for recommending it again to me, I’ll certainly have a look over at Boomkat. Really great resource btw, I love that website!
I understand what you’re saying about ECM, it’s quite daunting to pick something from their huge collection. Where to begin? Pretty much everything they release seems at least interesting. But they also all look alike, haha. I haven’t found a good resource either for picking the essential releases from their huge collection. I’m just going by individual recommendations.
@ Dok: Thanks for that link! What a wonderful idea, nice substitute for those (i.e. pretty much everyone) who can’t make it to the cistern. :)
This is the most profound groups of songs…. wow! Keep up more like this one.
[...] The serene, almost spiritual atmosphere of the previous part of this series is traded with a darker and more desolate sound in this second part. Over the course of the first three tracks the music gradually builds down its tone, as if it was gracefully descending into the depths of the ocean, the darkness absorbing the last remaining rays of light and colour being transformed into pitch-blackness. It makes for a careful yet necessary initiation of what comes next. [...]